Pakistan’s Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan needs financial help to deal with “overwhelming” floods, and he hopes that financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund would be able to help.
Heavy rains have caused devastating floods in both the north and south of Pakistan, affecting more than 30 million people and killing more than 1,000. “I haven’t seen destruction of this scale, I find it very difficult to put into words … it is overwhelming,”
Pakistan has been suffering of high inflation, depreciation of the currency and account deficit and with the current situation the economy is in crisis
The IMF board will decide this week on whether to release $1.2 billion as part of the Pakistan’s bailout programme of 2019.
Bhutto-Zardari said he hopes in coming months the IMF would recognize the impact of the floods. “Going forward, I would expect not only the IMF, but the international community and international agencies to truly grasp the level of devastation,” he said.
Pakistan has also asked the United Nations member states to contribute to relief efforts,“In the next phase, when we look towards rehabilitation and reconstruction, we will have conversations not only with the IMF, but with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank,” Bhutto-Zardari said. He also added that after relief efforts, the country would have to look at how to develop infrastructure that was more resistant to both floods and droughts and address the huge changes faced by the agriculture sector.
“Despite the fact that Pakistan contributes negligible amounts to the overall carbon footprint … we are devastated by climate disasters such as these time and time again, and we have to adapt within our limited resources, however we can, to live in this new environment,” he said.
