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Web Desk: Pakistan misses out on $23 billion in grants due to alleged bureaucratic negligence
According to the details, friendly countries and donors have not provided Pakistan with loans and grants worth about $23 billion, some of which are 15 years old, including a $1.6 billion grant owed to the United States under the Kerry Luger Act.
According to the report, a large part of the funds could be secured by ensuring the immediate implementation of various schemes, but what the government called “the outstanding balance until September 2022”, some of these debt payments relate to foreign aid. on projects funded by the Ministry of Finance, but various other bureaucratic obstacles and poor implementation of systems delayed relations with donors.
It should be noted that the $3.7 billion allocation has stalled at a time when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are trying to arrange $5-7 billion to revive the IMF program. The revelations about the disbursed funds were made in the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ quarterly report released this week, showing project-wise details of schemes and funds.
According to sources, the common factors behind not spending such a large amount are slow process of government approvals, delays in loan negotiations, lack of coordination between government agencies finalizing procurement details, lengthy bidding process and execution. Lack of agency capacity was included.
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