Pakistan raises over $8.5B from foreign donors in flood recovery aid
More than 1,700 people have lost their lives due to the heavy monsoon floods which began in June last year.
Pakistani Minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Monday that the country is expected to receive over $8.5 billion in aid from international donors allocated for rebuilding towns and cities that were destroyed by ravaging summer floods.
Earlier today, Geneva hosted an international conference called Climate Resilient Pakistan, aimed at helping the country overcome the devastation caused due to the cataclysmic floods.
"The first plenary of the day-long Geneva Conference culminated in a generous outpouring of int'l community, EU pledged $93 million, Germany $88 million, China $100 million, IDB [Islamic Development Bank] $4.2 Billion, WB [World Bank] $2 billion, Japan $77 million, ADB [Asia Development Bank] $1.5 billion. USAID [United States Agency for International Development] $100 million, France $345 million, total $8.57 billion, in line with collaborative vision of coalition of willing," Aurangzeb said on Twitter.
The Pakistani minister added that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank vowed to donate $1 billion to build more climate-resilient infrastructure, and Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion for recovery and rehabilitation purposes.
Read more: Iran, Pakistan aim to reach $5 bn in trade volume per annuum
More than 1,700 people have lost their lives due to the monsoon floods which began in June last year.
Overall, statistics indicate that 33 million people were affected by the floods, 2 million had their homes damaged, and about a million livestock perished due to the climate catastrophe.
Some NGOs have accused the government of conducting illegal drilling operations to intentionally flood residential areas in order to collect more funds.
Floods in Pakistan is NOT a climate driven catastrophe, its deliberately created suffering by freeloader Pakistan onto enslaved civilians of Sindh & Balochistan ONLY to get more free money.
— Sindhudesh (@JSFM_INTL_SPKMN) January 9, 2023
Stop funding #Holacoust of Sindhi people
🔴🔴🔴https://t.co/KS0w5h6nGh
The UN estimates that about $16.3 billion is required to restore damaged residences, roads, and other infrastructure in flood-affected areas.
The capital, Islamabad, will allocate half of this amount from its own resources, despite it already being in deep economic crisis.
Read more: Iran, Pakistan denounce recent Israeli provocations in Palestine