Pakistan Aid Relief Boost By IMF And World Bank
It was announced today that the IMF and the World Bank are to step in and help the Pakistan Aid Relief, as the country witnesses the largest humanitarian disaster. The IMF will provide around 450 million dollars as emergency financing to Pakistan to help rebuild and resolve the aftermath of the devastating floods which have affected well in excess of 18 million people.
Talks have been continuing in Washington between the IMF and Pakistan Officials for more than a week after Islamabad warned they would not be able to meet key IMF targets on inflation and budget deficit levels.
Originally, Pakistan had agreed to the terms in 2008 in return for a 11-billion-dollar “stand-by” finance package, 7.3 billion dollars of which had already been pledged.
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn made the aid announcement after meeting with Pakistan’s finance minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
The World Bank said independantly it would increase its flood-related efforts to one billion dollars from 900 million dollars, and the money would come from the bank’s fund for the poorest and third world countries and the loans are concessional and carry no interest payments.
