PTI in KPK has not taken any loans and grants from foreign organizations, governments and donors
Riaz Khan Daudzai Monday, December 02, 2013
From Print Edition
PESHAWAR:
Though the coalition government led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is being criticised by its political opponents for accepting foreign assistance and loans amounting to Rs35 billion for the province while staging protests against US drone strikes and blocking Nato supply lines,
but the fact remains that it hasn’t received any new grant or loan during its six-month rule.
According to the budget documents, all these loans and grants were committed during the previous coalition government led by the Awami National Party (ANP) to implement its ambitious agenda laid down in the Comprehensive Development Strategy and Post-Conflict Need Assessment (PCNA).
A recent meeting of the provincial cabinet held in Peshawar was informed by the relevant officials from the finance department that the PTI-headed government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not contracted any new loans and grants from foreign organizations, governments and donors and has no plan to accept grants with political conditions.
A high-ranking government official privy to the last meeting of the cabinet said
the criticism against the PTI-led coalition government for the loans and grants taken by the province is political rather than logical.
Talking to this scribe, he said the
Finance Department officials had informed the cabinet that foreign assistance to the province was provided by the federal government through Economic Affairs Division (EAD), Islamabad.
According to the official, who wished anonymity, it includes both loans and grants.
“Loans are provided by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank on lower mark-up and standard terms and conditions. The grants-in-aid are provided by a host of aid agencies,” he said.
“All foreign loans are handled by the federal government. These loans are used for the financing of specified developmental projects under an agreement between the respective governments. The relending terms and conditions of the loans to the provincial government are the same as agreed by the federal government with the loan-giving agencies,” the official added.
He said a number of foreign loans are under verification between provincial and federal governments and the disbursement could still be stopped by the federal government to the project executing agencies. “Grants are provided for poverty reduction and meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Education, health, justice, local government system development, energy and power and environment are among the focus sectors of MDGs’ initiatives,” he said.
The official said the budget for the financial year 2013-14, which was mainly worked out by the caretakers in the province, has a total size of Rs344 billion with Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Rs118 billion, including the foreign assistance component of Rs35 billion.
“The foreign assistance portfolio in the ADP is 30 percent in which the share of grants is 88 percent while ratio of loans is 12 percent. The total size of foreign loans in the provincial budget is Rs4.30 billion while the grants are estimated at Rs30.69 billion,” he said.
He said the major chunk of these loans is being provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The JICA is providing Rs3 billion in loan and it has also committed a grant of Rs514.195 million, while the ADB is providing Rs1.30 billion loan to the provincial government during the current fiscal.
The official said the rest of the Rs30 billion grants are provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DFID) of UK, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ-German Society for International Cooperation), JICA, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW), UNDP, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), World Bank, Italian Department-Swap, CVF Japan, NICEF, INL and European Union (EU) in accordance with international agreements and commitments which are obligatory as the developed countries and institutions need to spend at least one percent of their GDP in social development projects in the developing states.
The official said the release of the foreign assistance is subject to completion of certain formalities and utilisation generally remained 20-30 percent of the committed amount. “The provincial government is also making repayment of old foreign loans along with mark-up as per the agreed schedule and only in the current financial year it is going to repay the foreign loans of Rs4.38 billion,” he concluded.
SOURCE
The News International(Jang/Geo)
PTI-led coalition in KP has taken no fresh foreign loans, grants - thenews.com.pk
