By IRNA,
Islamabad : World Bank has agreed to enhance amount of $900 million earlier committed through re-programing to $1 billion for relief and reconstruction work with regard to recent floods in Pakistan, Finance Ministry said Friday.
The agreement came during a meeting between Pakistan’s Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and , Wrld Bank Operations Director Xian Zhu and a group of Senior Managers from World Bank Group, a Ministry’s statement said.
Out of this amount, an amount of US $ 700 million shall be available for floods related early recovery and reconstruction projects, while an amount of US $ 300 million shall be used for financing flood related imports.
Xian Zho is visiting Pakistan to follow-up and provide support on the World Bank response package for floods relief and reconstruction.
The Finance Minister conveyed his appreciation for the prompt response of the World Bank.
On Thursday, the World Bank is to lend $900m to Pakistan to help it recover from the worst ever floods that have devastated the country. The Bank says the government of Pakistan had requested around 900 million dollars of financial support from the World Bank.
The bank estimated the economic cost of the flood to be “huge,” and the housing, roads, irrigation and agriculture to be the hardest-hit sectors in the country.
The deadly floods have now affected over 14 million people, and the affected area covers 1.4 million acres of cropped land, the bank quoted Pakistani official figures as saying. It noted that continuing rains have caused additional flooding and hindered relief activities.
The bank said the Pakistani government has asked the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to undertake a Damages and Needs Assessment in the flood-hit areas.
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More than 1,600 killed in Pakistan floods.