GENEVA: Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have pledged $5.2 billion to support Pakistan in its climate rebuilding efforts, officials said on Monday.
The development came as a United Nations conference in Geneva drummed up funds and other support to help Pakistan cope with the fallout of last summer’s devastating flooding, which the UN chief called a “climate disaster of monumental scale” that killed more than 1,700 people in the immediate aftermath.
Millions are still living near contaminated and stagnant flood waters.
“I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Development Bank group, as part of contributing to the achievement of Pakistan’s climate resilience and development objectives, pledges a financing amount of $4.2 billion over the next three years,” Reuters quoted IDB president Muhammad Al-Jasser as saying in Geneva.
Pakistan Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed $1 billion assistance by Saudi Arabia in a Twitter post.
“The brotherly country Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has pledged $1 billion to assist Pakistan in daunting task of resilient recovery and rehabilitation,” Aurangzeb said.
A senior official from the US development agency USAID also said that Washington would provide an additional $100 million in funding for Pakistan’s recovery from the devastating floods.
“I am delighted to announce that the United States is making an additional 100-million-dollar commitment to Pakistan to help it recover from the devastating 2022 monster monsoon floods,” USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman told reporters on the sidelines of a major conference in Geneva.
