Miftah says ‘Flood impacted Pakistan’s economy by $10bn

Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail has said that the flash floods have caused at least $10 billion in damages to various sectors of the country’s already struggling economy.

Talking to the media, Miftah said that these were preliminary assessments that could change after conducting field surveys. Miftah stated that he does not currently have details on the losses suffered by each sector of the economy.

When asked if the country had taken the donors’ initial assessment of damage seriously, the minister replied in the negative. According to top officials, Islamabad will first seek financial assistance from the international community, and then it will assess the damages separately or jointly with the donors to determine the exact figures, but first and foremost, the government will focus on all-out relief efforts to rescue the victims.

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In 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods, Pakistan and donors assessed the losses caused to different sectors of economy. And then the donors helped Islamabad during the reconstruction phase after relief and rehabilitation.

Now, the same strategy would be adopted. Initial assessments show that more than 1,000 people and millions of livestock have died in different parts of the country. Besides damage to an untold number of houses, hotels and roods in major flood-hit areas of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KP.