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Pakistan on Monday secured more than $9 billion in international aid it needs to rebuild after last year’s devastating floods and to help it deal with the consequences of climate change. In turn, Islamabad saw this aid as a clear global message to support all countries affected by natural disasters and not abandon them to their fate. Pakistan and the United Nations have pledged to use mechanisms to monitor the use of funds to counter the risks of misappropriation.
Pakistan on Monday received more than $9 billion in international aid it needs for post-invasion reconstruction devastating floods last year.
This support comes after pledges made by the international community at a conference co-hosted by the United Nations to raise half of the $16.3 billion (€15.3 billion) needed to rebuild the country and better deal with the aftermath. of climate change.
France has pledged projects worth 360 million euros to help reconstruction and has pledged another 10 million for emergency aid.
For their part, the United States and China have pledged another $100 million, while the Islamic Development Bank Group has pledged $4.2 billion over the next three years.
Faced with the risks of misappropriation of these large sums, the United Nations and Pakistan have promised to use mechanisms to monitor the use of the funds.
He is expected to accompany an international support group, in which France has expressed a desire to participate, to monitor the application of this international grant.
“We may be the first country to see a third of its area underwater, and unfortunately we won’t be the last,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in an interview with Agence France-Presse after the conference.
He added that the success of the conference demonstrates that Pakistan is “in a sense a model for the future”.
The Pakistani foreign minister added that he sees “an opportunity in this crisis”, underlining that “from now on we can invest in the infrastructure of the most disadvantaged areas and stimulate their growth”.
“This day has given us much hope. The message from the world is clear: the world will stand by those affected by natural disasters and will not leave them to their fate,” Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said Hina Rabbani Khar after announcing the final sum.
The devastating floods coupled with the global energy crisis have added pressure on the Pakistani economy, which has pushed the country into a very difficult financial situation.
For his part, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, at the opening of the conference, called for “massive investments” and a reform of the international financial system to help Pakistan, an issue he raised during the Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP 27) in Egypt.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the conference that his country was in a “race against time” to meet huge needs: “We are at a turning point in history,” he added.
Speaking to reporters, he urged the International Monetary Fund to ease the pressure, saying: “I’m constantly trying to get them to give us a break.”
The World Bank called on Monday to “keep spending within tolerable limits”.
Martin Reiser, vice president of the South Asia region at the World Bank, believed that “a truly flexible recovery is not possible without further financial and structural reforms”, calling for better targeting of social assistance and spending cuts that “weaken the tax authorities” and for the adoption of “progressive and wider taxes”.
“Climate Chaos Victim”
It’s worth mentioning Pakistan It is the fifth most populous country in the world with 216 million people, responsible for less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions, but it is one of the regions most vulnerable to the increase in extreme weather events due to climate change.
It is also one of the countries that supported, during the COP27, the establishment of the “Loss and Damages” fund, which aims to support the countries of the South in dealing with the consequences of global warming.
“When there are doubts about loss and damage, visit Pakistan,” Guterres said on Monday, noting that the country is “a victim of climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system.”
He complained that the international financial system did not provide adequate support to middle-income countries that needed to “invest in natural disaster resilience” by reducing their debt or giving them new finance. You have called for “creative” international funding to help these countries “when they need it most”.
Pakistan’s Flexible Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan, officially unveiled at the conference on Monday, underscores the need for about $16.3 billion.
The Pakistani government estimates it can secure half of the amount through its own budget and public-private partnerships, but needs the international community to pay the rest.
Islamabad and the United Nations said Monday’s conference, which was attended by representatives of some 40 countries, the World Bank and development banks, goes beyond the traditional donor conference, as it seeks to establish a long-term international partnership term aimed at reconstruction, but also aims to improve Pakistan’s adaptation capacity to climate change.
Floodwaters have submerged large swathes of land for months, causing massive destruction, and parts of the south are still submerged.
UNICEF notes that some four million children still live near polluted and stagnant floodwaters.
Millions of displaced people remain far from their homes, and those who manage to return often find their homes destroyed and fields covered in mud and unsuitable for cultivation.
Food prices have soared and the number of food-insecure Pakistanis has doubled to 14.6 million, according to UN data.
The World Bank estimates that the catastrophic floods will push nearly nine million Pakistanis into poverty.
France 24/AFP
