Pakistan seeks IMF loan restructuring after floods‎

Officials from Pakistan are holding talks with the International Monetary Fund to discuss its $11bn loan package in the wake of the devastating floods.

The IMF’s regional director, Masood Ahmed, told the BBC the organisation wanted to find a way to help Pakistan “through this difficult phase”.

This could include lowering some fiscal targets or allowing Pakistan to apply for emergency natural disaster funding.

Earlier, UN officials described the humanitarian situation as critical.

They said that although the UN had raised 70% of the $460m (£295m) needed for emergency relief, many people had yet to receive any help. In the UK, relief agencies say public donors have now given £29m ($45m).

Government officials and aid agencies in the southern province of Sindh said 80% of those affected had fled their homes.

The Indus river outside the city of Hyderabad is at its highest for more than 50 years and is expected to rise further on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is expected to hold high level talks on Tuesday on Pakistan’s medical needs, amid growing concern of a public health disaster.

Doctors have been overwhelmed by the need in some areas – skin rashes and dehydration are common, many children have diarrhoea and there is concern about the spread of cholera.

Continue Reading: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11060119

Pakistan floods: World Bank to lend $900m for recovery

The World Bank is to loan $900m (£574m) to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst ever flooding.

The devastating floods have affected up to 20 million people and left some 2,000 dead, say officials.

But the UN says international aid has been slow and that it has raised only a third of the $460m (£294m) needed for emergency relief.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain said it could take five years and $15bn (£9.6bn) for the country to recover.

The World Bank funds will come through the reprogramming of planned projects and the reallocation of money, a World Bank spokesman said.

“We are reprioritising to make the funds immediately available,” he told Reuters news agency.

Health officials have warned that disease could spread quickly among the millions of displaced people and that 3.5m children are at risk.

Maurizio Giuliano, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned that Pakistan would face “a second wave of deaths” from water-borne diseases and food shortages unless more aid arrived soon.

Continue Reading: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10994989