ADB to provide Pakistan up to $2.5b in flood relief

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday told Pakistan that an additional $2.5 billion would be made available for flood relief.

Of this, over half or around $1.5 billion will be for the BRACE program and will be subject to approval from the ADB board.

This was disclosed on Wednesday during a meeting between Federal Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar and a delegation of ADB led by its Country Director Yong Ye at the Finance Division. Others who attended the meeting included State Minister for Finance Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha, ADB Deputy Country Director Asad Aleem, ADB Principal Economist Kiyoshi Taniguchi, ADB Senior Public Management Specialist Laisiasa Tora, and senior officers from the Finance Division.

Dar apprised the delegation of the devastation caused by the recent floods in the country and its impact on Pakistan’s economy. He added that Pakistan’s economy faces enormous challenges. Still, the government has not only arrested the decline but has set the economy in the right direction due to pragmatic policy decisions.

Yong Ye told Dar that ADB would provide flood relief support to Pakistan to the tune of $2.3 to $2.5 billion. This will include $1.5 billion for the Building Resilience with Active Countercyclical Expenditures (BRACE) Program. However, the program will be placed before the ADB Board for approval later this month.

The ADB official briefed the meeting on ongoing and future projects of ADB in Pakistan across different sectors, including social protection, food security and energy. Regarding the Country Partnership Strategy for Pakistan 2021-25, it was shared that this strategy is in line with the vision of Islamabad.