The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that Pakistan has huge potential for economic progress given its strategic location and youthful growing population.

In an interview, Country Director of ADB for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang said: “Pakistan has the potential to become a regional hub for trade and economic activity but the major impediment is weak connectivity and trade links. Moreover, the COVID-19 has pandemic caused a sharp downturn in 2020, and is likely to push more people into poverty.”

Yang also said that ADB is taking major steps in providing critical finance to the government to implement it’s pro-poor fiscal and monetary policy, and to deal with the impacts of the pandemic, adding that ADB has also financed a $2 billion loans to help Pakistan overcome the pandemic challenges.

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ADB is working towards introducing best practices, sharing knowledge and trying to develop capacity building through partnerships will all stakeholders, says Yang.

The bank has also devised a new partnership strategy (2021-2025) for Pakistan. It is designed to restore growth and economic stability by deploying sovereign and non-sovereign operations to support infrastructure, agribusiness, and finance sector investment.

ADB will target reforms that boost competitiveness and private sector development, create jobs and drive market innovation.