Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Final estimates put the damage from Pakistan’s recent deadly floods at more than $30 billion, the planning ministry’s Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report stated, adding that the reconstruction needs are over $16 billion.
Unprecedented flash floods caused by historic monsoon rains have washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing over 1,000 people and affecting more than 33 million, over 15% of the country’s 220 million population.
The PDNA report, launched by the Minister of Planning Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal accompanied by the Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman, was conducted jointly with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Union (EU), the United Nations agencies with technical facilitation by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank.
According to the report, damage, loss, and needs assessment following the unprecedented floods in Pakistan calls for ‘building back better, based on the principles of the poor first, transparency, inclusion, and climate resilience
The assessment estimates total damages to exceed $14.9 billion (Rs3.2 trillion), and total economic losses to reach about $15.2 billion (Rs3.3 trillion).
Estimated needs for rehabilitation and reconstruction in a resilient way are at least $16.3 billion ($Rs3.5 trillion), not including much-needed new investments beyond the affected assets, to support Pakistan’s adaptation to climate change and overall resilience of the country to future climate shocks.
The transport and communications sector has the highest reconstruction and recovery needs at Rs1.1 trillion ($5.0 billion); followed by agriculture, food, livestock, and fisheries at Rs854 billion ($4.0 billion), and housing at Rs592 billion ($2.8 billion).
Iqbal also requested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) allow Pakistan for utilising its development funds for disaster recovery, particularly the condition of spending at least 40% of Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP) only in the last quarter of the financial year unwarranted under the current circumstances, and it must be revised, the minister said urging the IMF to review it.
The report highlighted that as recovery and reconstruction spending rise moving forward, the loss in output could be mitigated. Pakistan needs significant international support to complement its own commitment to increase domestic revenue mobilisation and save scarce public resources, and reduce the risk of exacerbating macroeconomic imbalances.
Although the early loss and damage estimates may increase as the situation continuously evolves on the ground, the PDNA laid the groundwork for a plan for recovery and reconstruction designed to build back a better future for the most affected people in Pakistan.
