Pakistan May Misuse Funds To Buy Ammunition; India Opposes World Bank's Funding To Islamabad

New Delhi: India will next month oppose the World Bank funding to Pakistan, just as it had done in case of IMF, arguing that Islamabad had used such funds in the past to procure arms and ammunitions, a government source said.

Multilateral agencies' funding to developing countries are meant for poverty alleviation and development goals, but Pakistan's track record has been to misuse them for military purposes, the source said.

World Bank is likely to review next month its USD 20 billion lending to Pakistan under the Country Partnership Framework agreed in January this year.

The funds to cash-starved Pakistan were for areas, including clean energy and climate resilience for a period of the ten years beginning 2026.

"We will oppose the upcoming World Bank funding to Pakistan," the source said.

India had lobbied with IMF Chief Kristalina Georgiev and ministers of IMF board member nations against the agency extending a USD 2.3 billion assistance to cash-strapped Pakistan earlier this month.

New Delhi presented proofs ranging from presence of senior Pakistani military officials at the funeral of designated terrorists to data that showed that Islamabad had misused funds in last two decades with arm procurements rising exponentially.

Sources said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke to IMF chief, and some ministers on IMF board, while the Indian Embassy officials also presented the case before powerful nations like the US.

The funding could, however, not be blocked as the agenda had previously been circulated to all memebers and it was left to them to vote on extending assistance to Pakistan.

India's efforts, however, led to IMF imposing 11 strict conditions on Pakistan. The 11 new structural benchmarks introduced by the Fund have been linked to fiscal, governance, social, monetary and financial parameters along with metrics to be met in energy sector and trade, investment policy and deregulation.

New Delhi abstained from voting as the IMF charter does not allow for a negative vote to be cast on such matters.

"India is not averse to any country receiving money for development purposes. But the IMF funding was not the right thing to do at a time when there were border tensions between India and Pakstan and a situation of war. Also, Pakistan has a history of spending not for people, but for buying arms," the source said.

According to the public data, Pakistan spends on average around 18 per cent of its general budget on "defense affairs and services", while even the conflict-affected countries spend on average far less (10-14 per cent of their general budget expenditure). Further, Pakistan's arms imports increased dramatically from 1980 to 2023 by over 20 per cent on average in the years when it received IMF disbursements in comparison to years when it did not receive the same.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have heightened following the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, which killed 26 civilians.

India feels that Pakistan has failed to act on terror emanating from its territory and has been diverting funds from multilateral agencies to buy arms and ammunition.

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