Washington, June 27: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf can spend more on the poor after securing three billion dollars in US aid, World Bank president James Wolfensohn has said.
Wolfensohn met with Musharraf two days after US President George W Bush, describing the visiting Pakistani leader as a "courageous" ally, promised the three billion dollars.
"There are important days ahead for Pakistan because your dramatically improved financial position puts the country on a strong footing to really tackle poverty," the World Bank boss told Musharraf, according to a bank statement yesterday.
"Pakistan can now afford to focus its public expenditure in exactly the sort of areas that will make the most impact on poverty. Education and health, of course, but also water, power and roads that all open the possibilities for people to live productive lives," Wolfensohn said.
Pakistan now spent four per cent of gross domestic product on poverty reduction, he said.
"We look forward to working with the government in their efforts to focus more on their objective of poverty reduction and social equity."
Wolfensohn said the bank would assist Pakistan for as long the country's leadership remained ambitious to accelerate and deepen economic reforms.
Bureau Report
