This statement is about the international community’s pledges to provide aid to Pakistan following devastating floods in the country.

The Finance Minister of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, announced that 90% of the pledges made at a donors conference in Geneva for flood-hit Pakistan are project loans that will be rolled out over the next three years. The international community committed to giving Pakistan an amount exceeding $10bn to help it recover from last year’s devastating floods. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, said that they expect the terms of these loans to be lenient. The amount of project loan financing has already crossed $8bn, which includes commitments from multiple international financial institutions such as Islamic Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and World Bank.

The Finance Minister of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, announced that 90% of the pledges made at a donors conference in Geneva for flood-hit Pakistan are project loans that will be rolled out over the next three years. However, it is not clear if the $1bn pledge made by the Saudi Development Bank pertains to program lending or project loan. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, said that they expect the terms of these loans to be lenient but these pledges will not solve Pakistan’s immediate dollar liquidity crisis. The country needs an immediate cash injection and that’s unlikely to happen unless Pakistan mends its tense relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Dar also said that he had a meeting with IMF team on the sidelines of the Geneva meeting, which revolved around the government’s ability to meet the revenue targets previously determined for the ongoing fiscal year after the Federal Board of Revenue fell short in December. However, the IMF still wants the government to take fiscal measures and cut back some subsidies and Dar said that his team will identify some fiscal measures but there will be no burden on the common man and they will be very targeted and categorical. He also requested the naysayers to stop spreading panic over “default” rumors and consider national interest above everything.