ISLAMABAD: President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has pledged new humanitarian aid for Pakistan in the aftermath of recent floods, while the IMF and World bank have said they will make funds available for reconstruction from existing programs.
The announcements come after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s meetings with the EU Commission president and global monetary lenders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Wednesday, in which he highlighted the challenges that face Pakistan where nearly 1,600 have died from floods triggered by deadly monsoon rains.
The deluges have affected more than 33 million people, with swelling waters sweeping away villages, roads and bridges, and at one point inundating a third of the country’s territory. The government estimates damages could go up to $40 billion.
“We will come forward with new humanitarian aid in the coming weeks, to support the people of Pakistan,” von der Leyen said after a meeting with the Pakistani PM. She did not specify the amount of the package.
In a separate tweet, Sharif said top officials at the IMF and World Bank had said they would focus on “making resources available within our existing programs for post-flood reconstruction.”
Sharif also thanked US President Joe Biden for highlighting floods in Pakistan during his UNGA speech and calling on the world to deliver an “immediate response.”
So far, the US has provided $53 million in flood aid to Pakistan, which the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, told a recent gathering in New Jersey was “like a drop in a bucket.”
