Staff Report
LAHORE
Speaking in the Asma Jahangir Conference 2022’s session on ‘Reconstruction and Rehabilitation – Post Floods in Pakistan’, climate and disaster relief experts have warned that Pakistan’s loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become a hindrance in flood rehabilitation efforts as it effectively bars the government from spending development funds during the current year.
Munizae Jahangir, journalist and host of ‘Spotlight’ news show, moderated the session titled ‘Reconstruction and Rehabilitation – Post Floods in Pakistan’. Federal Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal gave his keynote in the session.
Shah Murad Aliani, Member, Prime Minister’s Initiative on Climate Change, Bilal Anwar, CEO, National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), Nilofar Qazi, Public Policy Specialist, Maggie Stephenson, Technical Adviser, United Nations Office for Project Services, and Izza Farrakh, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank, were among the other speakers in the post-flood session.
According to the resolution passed in the session, the house resolved that due to disaster management and rehabilitation efforts taking precedence following the devastating floods in Pakistan, the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has effectively become a hindrance as it bars the government from spending development funds during the second and third quarters of the year.
The panel reiterated Pakistan’s demand for climate reparations and urged the nation to continue donating especially for the coming winter months.