DFID restores Pakistan’s grant

Staff Report

LAHORE: The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) has restored Pakistan’s grant, which was suspended after a military coup in 1999, said Mr Peter, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) finance manager, in a meeting with Azeem Noori Ghuman, the Punjab Assembly PAC chairman, on Friday.

He said that DFID would provide £25 million to Pakistan in 2004-05 for projects to promote education and alleviate poverty in rural areas. Mr Peter said that DFID had been providing aid to Pakistan since 1954. He said that the grant was being restored because the department considered that democracy had been reinstated in Pakistan.

He said that DFID, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank had compiled a report on the economic development in Punjab. The report recommended that literacy be improved and poverty be alleviated in remote areas by 2015, added Mr Peter.

Mr Peter suggested that Punjab Assembly PAC should be authorised to take action against the misuse of funds.

Haroon Sharif, the British High Commissioner’s economic advisor in Pakistan, Saeed Ahmad, the Punjab Assembly secretary, and members of the Punjab Assembly, Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan, Rai Ejaz Ahmad and Sardar Yousaf Khan Leghari, were also present.

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