ISLAMABAD, Mar 19: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expected to extend about USD 10 billion in financing to Pakistan over the next five years, according to a media report on Thursday.
The Manila-based lending agency said the facility was part of its 2026-30 Country Partnership Strategy (CPS2026-30) launched on Wednesday.
According to the Dawn newspaper, the bank said that the CPS sets out “a roadmap to support the country’s transition to sustainable and inclusive growth through private sector-led development”.
“The five-year strategy will focus on three pathways: enabling private sector development, advancing inclusion and empowerment, and enhancing resilience and sustainability”, it said.
These priorities will be reinforced by crosscutting themes of good governance and institutional strengthening, gender equality and social inclusion, digital transformation, and regional cooperation and integration.
“The new CPS is tailored to address Pakistan’s structural challenges and promote robust and lasting growth, which benefits the whole country, especially the poor and vulnerable,” said ADB Country Director for Pakistan Emma Fan.
“It promotes strategic investments and reforms across key sectors to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. ADB looks forward to supporting Pakistan’s public and private sectors in delivering on this ambitious agenda,” she said.
The CPS noted that Pakistan had stabilised its macroeconomic conditions following a series of external shocks and had initiated important structural reforms.
“The CPS responds to this evolving country context by emphasising export- and investment-led growth, supported by improved public financial management, an enabling business environment, and investments in high-impact sectors”.
As private sector development is a central feature of the strategy, ADB will support reforms and investments to reduce regulatory and compliance burdens, improve infrastructure, expand access to finance, promote public–private partnerships, and boost private sector operations.
The CPS also identifies transformative opportunities in critical minerals, railways and multimodal connectivity, energy security and clean energy, and skills development and employment.
The ADB, which remains one of the top two multilateral lending agencies to Pakistan, said it will increasingly deploy integrated solutions, combining policy reforms, sovereign and non-sovereign financing, technical assistance, and knowledge support across Pakistan to address emerging challenges.
To advance inclusion and empowerment, the ADB will prioritise investments and reforms to strengthen human capital, expand access to quality social services, and promote women’s economic participation.
With Pakistan’s high vulnerability to extreme weather events and disasters, resilience and sustainability form a core pillar of the strategy.
ADB will support initiatives on disaster risk management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, integrated flood and water resource management, agricultural value chains and food security, and air quality improvement.
The ADB noted that Pakistan’s sizeable young workforce combined with the country’s rich natural resource endowments represented important opportunities for economic growth.
A decisive shift toward private sector-driven growth can unlock this potential, transforming the economy and enabling sustained export- and investment-led expansion.
However, for Pakistan to shift to a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory, it must address multiple structural constraints to address critical challenges, which include its narrow production and export bases, burdensome business environment, and imbalanced public financial management.
The interlinked constraints call for carefully sequenced reforms and well-designed investments to unlock sustained growth while enhancing inclusion and resilience.
To fulfil its potential and turn its advantages into long-term development gains, Pakistan must carry out lasting reforms and combine these with sound investments, it said.
Noting improving economic performance, the ADB said Pakistan’s economy has stabilised and returned to growth following a series of boom-and-bust cycles as GDP expanded by 3.1 per cent in FY2025, improving from a 0.2 per cent contraction in FY2023.
Average inflation declined sharply to 4.5 per cent in FY2025 from 23.4 per cent in FY2024 and fell below the State Bank of Pakistan’s target of 5–7 per cent.
The current account balance moved from a deficit of –4.7 per cent of GDP in FY2022 to a 0.5 per cent surplus in FY2025 – the first since FY2011, according to the report. (PTI)
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