Saturday, 27 August, 2022 I 28 Muharram, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 58 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Govt to reach out to friendly countries, donors as floods hit 33m people: pm g
Announces Rs15b gRAnt foR sindh As flood Relief
ISLAMABAD
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staff report
RiMe Minister shehbaz sharif on friday said considering the urgency of the challenge, the government had decided to reach out to friendly countries and donors as flash floods and the torrential rains had badly hit around 33 million people. the prime minister, who convened a meeting of select islamabad-based ambassadors, high commissioners and other senior members of the diplomatic corps, to brief them on flood situation, said the ongoing monsoon spell has caused unprecedented damage and devastation in Pakistan. he said that not just balochistan, sindh and south Punjab, which were badly affected, the current spell of torrential rains had led to flooding in the northern regions of the KPK province. he said that more than 900 people including 300 children had lost their lives and 1300 were injured, so far. he said that as per the initial damage assessment, the losses caused by the floods were comparable to those Pakistan suffered during the flash floods of 2010-11. the meeting was attended by ambassadors and high commissioners of Australia, canada, china, Japan, Kuwait, uAe, turkiye, south Korea, usA, germany and senior diplomats of bahrain, european union, france, oman, Qatar, uK, and saudi Arabia. the country representative of World food Programme was also present. the prime minister underlined that 33 mil-
lion people had been badly affected by the flash floods and torrential rainfalls. While expressing his government’s firm resolve to overcome the deleterious impacts of the ongoing floods in the country, shehbaz sharif highlighted that he had already issued instructions to the federal and provincial governments to provide people with tents, drinking water, mosquito nets, food items, medicines and other equipment. he said that Pakistan’s carbon emission footprint was negligible but it was ranked at the 8th position among the countries exposed to the horrors of climate change. noting that the climate change has made flooding worse, the prime minister em-
phasized rehabilitation and reconstruction of climate resilient infrastructure in Pakistan. the prime minister mentioned that given the urgency of the challenge, the government had decided to reach out to the friendly countries, donors and the international financial institutions for their continued cooperation at this difficult time. the national disaster Management Authority (ndMA) and the economic Affairs division gave briefings about the current status of the flood situation including rescue, and relief efforts as well as the need for immediate assistance. the foreign office and ndMA are closely working with the united nations Resident coordinator in islamabad to launch a un flash Appeal on August 30. speaking on the occasion, foreign diplomats expressed condolences and sympathies to the people and the government of Pakistan on the loss of precious lives and damage to infrastructure in the floods. they assured the government of Pakistan of their respective governments’ continued support to meet the requirements of the rescue and relief operations across the country. Minister for climate change sherry Rehman, Minister for economic Affairs division sardarAyazsadiq, Minister for finance Miftah ismail, Minister for information Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister for Planning and development Ahsaniqbal, Adviser to Prime Minister Ahadcheema, sAPMs syed tariq fatemi and fahd husain and other senior officials of the government attended the meeting.
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PM sensitizes diplomatic corps on flood losses ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday interacted with members of the diplomatic community in Islamabad to sensitize them about the damages caused by floods across the country. “As part of efforts to mobilize all resources, I met Islamabad-based ambassadors, high commissioners & senior members of diplomatic corps today to sensitize them about scale of human tragedy,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter. During the meeting, the representatives of the Economic Affairs Division and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) briefed about current status of the challenge and response. The prime minister said that the ongoing rain spell had caused devastation across the country. The losses, though yet to be documented, are comparable to the flash floods of 2010, he added. He thanked the international community for their sympathies, condolences and pledges of support. “Together we will build back better,” he commented. According to the PM Office, the international organizations and financial institutions had announced an immediate assistance of more than $500 million for the flood victims on the prime minister’s appeal. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also held a meeting with international donors to sensitize them about the prevailing situation. The representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, international financial institutions, development partners and donors attended the meeting. The officials of China, the United States and the European Union, agencies of the United Nations and World Health Organization also part of the meeting. staff report
IMF to release tranche on Monday following board meeting: Miftah ISLAMABAD app
Minister for finance and Revenue Miftah ismail on friday said that the international Monetary fund (iMf) will release a loan tranche worth $1.17 billion to Pakistan after its board meeting which is scheduled for Monday. Addressing a press conference here, the minister said that Pakistan had fulfilled all the conditions set by the fund in order to secure the loan programme and it is very likely that the board will approve the release of tranche on Monday, August 29. terming the PM’s visit to Qatar a success, he highlighted that Qatar had agreed to make $3 billion investment in Pakistan’s various sectors. “the $4 billion funding gap which iMf was concerned about has also been bridged as Qatar and saudi Arabia have assured new investments along with providing Pakistan with oil on deferred payment,” he added. similarly, he said uAe had also announced to invest primarily in government’s shares worth $1 billion. dispelling rumours related to Qatar’s takeover of major Pakistani airports, Miftah said that there hadn’t been any discussion or agreement of selling Pakistan international Airlines (PiA) or the Roosevelt hotel to Qatar, and clarified that Qatar was only interested in getting the management control of Pakistan’s big airports. further, Miftah informed that Qatar was also interested to invest in large scale solar firms as well as investing in Pakistan’s capital market. “the government intends to install solar power plants with a capacity of 8000 MW, as solar energy will help generate cheaper electricity for consumers”, he added. Addressing public concerns over extra electricity bills this month, the finance minister said Prime Minister shehbaz sharif was worried over the hike in electricity bills therefore, he had formed a committee to deliberate what relief can be given to small consumers using between 200 and 300 units of electricity per month. he explained that prices had to be increased to fulfill the iMf’s demands, increased demand during peak summer and the subsequent fuel charges adjustment (fcA). “We had to raise the prices of electricity for all kinds of consumers due to pressure from the fund. then, in May, electricity demand was on peak due to unprecedented hot weather conditions; the government had to run even the most expensive power plants, which are run on furnace oil which costs around Rs59 per unit. he said that one a furnace oil plant activated in Jamshoro had a variable cost of Rs69 per unit. CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
KP finance minister Taimur Jhagra throws spanner into IMF talks KARACHI Khurram husain
the finance minister of Khyber Pukhtunwa province has withdrawn his commitment to run a provincial surplus this fiscal year, thereby potentially jeopardizing Pakistan’s case for resumption of the iMf program days before the scheduled board meeting. A copy of the letter is available with Profit. it is dated August 26, 2022 and addressed to federal finance minister Miftah ismael. in it Jhagra refers to the consent he had given back in July, under authority from his chief Minister, to run a budget surplus this fiscal year. All provinces have to agree to run a surplus which is budgeted at Rs570 billion total for fY23. As part of the iMf program, each province is expected to deliver a written commitment to abide by this budgetary requirement which they have been doing for years, ever since
Pakistan has been on an iMf program. At the time when these commitments were given in July, KP was the only province controlled by the opposition Pakistan tehreek-e-insaaf (Pti). back then Jhagra had given the commitment but attached a note detailing his objections. “We did this in the greater national interest” Jhagra says in the letter, referring to his original assent to the key condition required by the iMf from all provincial governments. in withdrawing his commitment, he also says he has been “unable to get time to meet with either the Minister or the secretary even once.” in his latest letter withdrawing the commitment to run a surplus, Jhagra reminds the finance minister Miftah ismael of these objections, lists them all, and concludes that “in these conditions, and without the resolution of the issues highlighted previously, for the province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa to actually leave
a surplus will be next to impossible.” he lists 4 issues. to resolve the budget allocations for ex-fAtA, which in the absence of an updated nfc award, are decided at the discretion of the federal government.
has asks the government to commit to monthly transfers of net hydel Profits as per terms specified in an Mou signed between the federal and provincial governments in 2016. to revive the national finance commission Award immediately. “for the federal government to also commit to immediately engage and resolve other financial issues with the government of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa”. “We estimate the overall impact of not resolving these issues is actually to create a Rs100 billion unfunded liability” on the KP budget, the letter states. it also invokes the “monsoonal flooding that we are currently facing, that as we speak has wreaked destruction in swat, di Khan and tank, but may over the course of the next few hours and day make the damage from this year’s flooding greater than the super-floods of 2010. the cost of rescue, relief, rehabilitation and building back is likely to run
into the tens of billions.” “Please note that in these conditions, and without the resolution of the issues highlighted previously, for the province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa to actually leave a surplus will be next to impossible” it concludes. in the budget for ongoing fiscal year, Jhagra had announced a record high development budget of Rs418 billion, a 15 percent increase in pensions of provincial government employees, and regularization of 63,000 government employees, mostly school teachers. it is not yet clear how the letter laying out the withdrawal of the commitment to run a fiscal surplus will impact Pakistan’s case at the iMf executive board which is scheduled to meet on August 29, but written commitments of this budget surplus were a key requirement for approval of the program. the board might decide to overlook the matter for now in anticipation of a political settlement.