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‘All hell will break…’: Pakistan PM's SOS on debt relief after record floods

Pakistan Floods: Pakistan government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund with “very tough conditionalities”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.

Published on: Sep 23, 2022, 11:22:17 IST
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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made an urgent appeal for debt relief following unprecedented floods which killed thousands and displaced millions of people in the country.

Pakistan Floods: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. (AFP)
Pakistan Floods: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. (AFP)

Pakistan government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund with “very tough conditionalities”, the country's prime minister told Bloomberg.

“We have spoken to European leaders and other leaders to help us in the Paris Club to get us moratorium. Unless we get substantial relief how can the world expect from us to stand on our own feet? It is simply impossible," he said.

Pakistan Floods; A villager uses cots to save usable items after salvaging from his flood-hit home, in Jaffarabad in Pakistan. (AP)
Pakistan Floods; A villager uses cots to save usable items after salvaging from his flood-hit home, in Jaffarabad in Pakistan. (AP)

Warning that Pakistan is facing the imminent threat of epidemics following floods, he said, “God forbid this happens, all hell will break."

Floods in Pakistan submerged almost a third of the country and killed more than 1,500 people. The disaster has severely affected the country already reeling from depleted currency reserved and the highest inflation in decades.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who visited Pakistan to access the damage caused by the floods, has called on the world to help Pakistan as damages caused by the floods exceed $30 billion, Reuters reported.

  • Mallika Soni
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Mallika Soni

    When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?"

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