Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
The Geneva Donor Conference ended in a hugely successful announcement of around $ 9 billion (our calculations are around $ 11.03 Billion). For a country, a good sum of money is announced in the conference. Officially, the government is counting it $ 9 billion. Over and above the $ 9 billion, aid is routine funding or already pledged.
The total sum of commitments made in Geneva Donor Conference is near $ 11.02 billion from 3 multilateral and 8 bilateral donors. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIDB) is actually the same and both are actually ADB. So total 11 donors contributed as commitments to $ 11 billion.
Geneve Flood Relief Commitments
Islamic Development Bank $ 4.2 billion (three years),
World Bank $ 2 billion,
EU Euro 500 million,
USAID $ 100 million,
France $ 345 Million
UN Pound £ 9 Million
Germany € 88 Million
Japan $ 77 Million
China $ 100 Million
Saudi Arabia $ 1 Billion
Asian Development Bank $ 1.5 Billion
Asian Infrastructure Development Bank $ 1 Billion
Total $ 11.03
Earthquake 2005 Donors Commitments
The 2005 earthquake killing 73000 people in Northern Pakistan actually contributed $ 5.8 billion and hardly half of them materialized. Many commitments due to local corruption and mismanagement went in thin air. Saudi Arabia was very helpful and even pledged to rebuild the entire city of Balakot, but later, when saw the local and provincial corruption and lack of seriousness of the authorities backed out of its commitment. Turkey and Iran and invisible from the donors list this time.
2005 Earthquake Pledges From Donors
· The Asian Development Bank $1 billion
· The World Bank nearly $1 billion
· The Islamic Development Bank $ 500 million
· Iran $ 350 Million
· China $300 million
· Turkey $150 million
France $94 million
Total $ 5.8 Billion
Other UN/Global Donors Conferences and their Results
Afghanistan donor conference earlier this year attracted only $ 2.4 billion.
Key world’s donors over Afghanistan have been reluctant contributors laying bare when a UN appeal for $4.4bn to help war-hit Afghans’ food crisis fell massively short, the second UN donor conference in a month to do so. Donor countries pledged only $2.44bn towards the appeal, a senior UN official said on Thursday after a high-level pledging conference. Qatar contributed while Saudi Arab and UAE kept silent without pledges.
Afghan donor conference followed a UN Yemen Pledging Conference a month back, which raised only $1.3bn against a target of $4.3bn, of which nearly $600m came from the US alone.
Delegates to a major EU and United Nations donor conference in Brussels today pledged some US$4.4 billion in 2018 to meet the deepening needs of Syrians displaced by more than seven years of war, as well as the main refugee hosting countries in the region.
Syrian Donor Conference fetched $ 3.4 Billion
The 2-day Syrian Donors Conference, in May 2022, delegates also pledged continued funding, shelter and opportunities for over 5.6 million Syrian refugees scattered across the region, together with more than 13 million individuals in need of humanitarian help within Syria and 3.9 million exposed persons in host populations.
Towards the end of the conference, with delegates including host countries and hundreds of humanitarian partners, a further US$3.4 billion had also been pledged for humanitarian and development programs in 2019 and 2020.
Sindh the Provinces Hit by the Floods and Corruption
The local and provincial administration in Sindh is known to be too inefficient and corrupt, devouring all the funds and spending hardly any on the local masses. Even the tents and camps given for relief is also seen used elsewhere in many social media videos.
The biggest danger is the entire of this funding could face a risk when it comes up to the provinces of Sindh, governed and stronghold of Pakistan People’s Party, for many decades. This has also given liberty to PPP for attempting to do least reforms in the provinces. This risk has made the people of the provinces, most vulnerable, and the administration least efficient. In many social media videos, hospitals and schools in small villages and towns are seen filled with animals or staff is normally absent from there.
Unless the federal and provincial governments plus donors keep a strong push and a vigilant eye on the funds used, the usage of funds could jeopardize this entire effort of rehabilitation and relief.
Getting Rid of Economic Crisis
The second aim of the conference was to get rid of local dollar crisis that hitting economy badly and the lurking signs of defaults are keeping the country away from rising in a better way. Just last year the growth of the economy was 6% and this year the estimates are only 2% with lack of dollars are reducing imports. Moreover, these lower imports are also hitting the raw materials of many industries and the industry is shutting down, creating further unemployment. This crisis all in all is enrolling entire sectors on economy. The lack of food items after floods, added to the crisis and country ended up facing shortage of wheat that causing hoarding and adding the edible items.
The conference might help for the government for next many months, giving it to plan for medium term.
IMF was becoming difficult to sit on the table with the government let alone it would give dollars, so this balance of payment crisis was doubling in many ways. The doctor was not ready to see the patient. How the diagnosis and medicine can then work? The country’s economic managers were complaining that IMF was being harsh and changes the goalpost whenever we complete the given terms. That has enhanced the trust deficit with the fund.
So, this (Geneva Conference) intervention from donors might lift some burden from the economy in the short to medium term. However, if the proper plan was not placed, then it would lead to another crisis, that might be more severe than this one.
Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi – The writer is a staff and writes on international and economic issues. He can be accessed at [email protected]
