World Bank sees ‘moderate’ progress in Pakistan's tax reforms
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Wednesday rated its two loan programmes in Pakistan, worth around $670 million, as ‘moderately satisfactory’ with ‘substantial risk’. The programmes are intended to support macroeconomic stability, improve service delivery and increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 15pc in five years. In its public disclosure, the Washington-based lending agency rated the overall…
The World Bank has rated its two loan programs in Pakistan, totaling around $670 million, as "moderately satisfactory" but with substantial risk. These programs aim to support macroeconomic stability, enhance service delivery, and increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 15% within five years. The World Bank's disclosure of the $700 million financing for the Pakistan Public Resources for Inclusive Development - Multiphase Programmatic Approach (PRID-MPA) was rated "moderately satisfactory" with a substantial risk rating.
The main objective of the program is to increase Pakistan's tax-to-GDP ratio from 12.3% in June 2025 to 15% by June 2030. One of the main factors contributing to the high risk rating is political and governance risk, along with moderate to substantial risks in macroeconomic, sector strategies, policies, institutional capacity, fiduciary, and environmental and social standards.
Despite these risks, the bank has noted substantial progress in most disbursement-linked indicators, indicating continued momentum in the reform program. The bank has also flagged substantial risks to the $70 million Connected Punjab Programme, due to delays in approval timelines, chiefly due to the vacant position of chief statistician.
Despite the risks, the program has received strong ownership at the highest levels of the Government of Punjab.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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