KARACHI, Oct 9 (INP): Taking to the social networking website Twitter, the international development finance institution, Asian development bank (ADB) on Wednesday announced the provision of $2.7 billion in approved financing to Pakistan in 2019.

Foreign investors’ confidence over the economy of the country was restored to a large extent after approval of a bailout package by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Pakistan, a previous ADB report had read.

The international money lender tweeted: “ADB to provide $2.7 billion in approved financing to Pakistan in 2019, and recently approved Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) 2020-2022 will increase average lending to $2.4 billion a year – a record increase over the $1.4 billion average from 2015 to 2018.”

Another tweet on the matter read: “In addition, ADB will leverage our lending through the mobilization of co-financing and funding from other sources, including regional concessional resources. The new COBP will support Pakistan’s development goals and complement efforts by other development partners.”

Earlier on October 7, Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved additional funds of $200 million to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), according to a press release issued by the Metro Manila-based lending agency.

The funding was provided to help support the government of Pakistan’s flagship social protection program, BISP, which supports more than 5 million eligible families across the country through over $3.6 billion in total cash transfers disbursed so far.