Islamabad:
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan had not prepared investable projects to use $ 11 billion, promised by foreign lenders at the Geneva conference almost three years ago. This incapacity has led to the gap between the government’s need for foreign aid and its ability to spend it effectively.
“Let us adopt that we could not find investable projects to benefit from billions of dollars, promised in Geneva,” said Aurangzeb at a conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.
He wondered if the state institutions had learned anything from the devastating floods of 2022 and faced with two existential threats – climate change and the rapidly growing population. The 2022 floods caused damages for an amount of $ 30 billion.
Aurangzeb noted that once again, Pakistan faces billions of dollars in damages in the current floods. Its remarks occurred one day after the Ministry of Economic Affairs informed the Public Accounts Committee that of $ 6.4 billion in project financing promises, only $ 2.8 billion was actually disbursed.
Overall, foreign lenders had promised $ 11 billion – including $ 4.6 billion for oil financing and $ 6.4 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction – but disbursements remained limited due to the absence of credible projects.
Official data shows that the World Bank has promised $ 2.2 billion and has so far paid $ 1.6 billion. The Asian Development Bank hired $ 1.6 billion but has only published $ 513 million. Likewise, China and the Bank of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) promised $ 1.1 billion but only extended $ 250 million.
The Islamic Development Bank has promised to give $ 600 million but has published $ 231 million. The countries of the Paris club have promised nearly $ 800 million but released $ 139 million. The United States has promised to give $ 100 million and have given $ 70 million.
Meanwhile, heavy rains in the upper watersheds of the Chenab river inflated the downstream flows, which prompted the Ministry of Water Resources to issue a flood alert for Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab rivers.
Aurangzeb stressed that as long as Pakistan is attacking population growth and climate change, it cannot hope to become an economy of 3 dollars by 2047, its centenary.
