The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is organizing a briefing for media regarding banks Private Sector Operations in Pakistan by ADB’s Director General of Private Sector Operations Department (PSOD), Phillip Erquiaga, here on August 31. According to bank sources the ADB’s private sector operations in Pakistan began in 1983 and as of year-end 2011, cumulative approvals in 30 projects amounted to $1.07 billion. “As of 30 June 2012, total outstanding balances and undisbursed commitments to private sector projects in Pakistan amounted to $623 million representing 10.1% of the total portfolio administered by ADB’s PSOD Asia-wide”, the sources added. It further said that the ADB’s investments in Pakistan’s private sector encompass several industries. ADB has, in the past, successfully lent to leasing companies, investment banks, mutual funds, a fertilizer plant, an oil terminal distribution company, a power distribution company and three (thermal and hydro) power plants. In 2011, a $97 million loan was approved for the construction and operation of a 147-megawatt run-of-river hydropower plant on a build-own-operate-transfer basis. The partial credit guarantees totaling $66.6 million approved in 2011 for two wind projects in Pakistan are ADB’s first ever shariah-compliant debt financings.
