Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb admitted that there was a serious trust deficit among international donors, remarks that come as Pakistan awaits realisation of pledges made to help it recover from the devastating floods of 2022.

Addressing the Climate Action for Pakistan organised by Acumen Pakistan on Tuesday, Aurangzeb said that during the discussions in Geneva, in the backdrop of the devastating floods in 2022, pledges to the tune of $9 billion were made.

“This shows that there is no lack of funds as people understand the emergency here … but by and large we could not have those pledges materialise into actual funding.

“The reason for that is we needed to come up with credible projects, projects which could be monitored, and on the basis of that the whole discussion was going to go forward.

“And the reality is people don’t trust the government, and I am in the government, so therefore it is the private sector which has to lead the country in all aspects,” he said.

Aurangzeb said the government needed to ensure ownership and accountability of those funds.

Pakistan seeks disbursements on pledged flood-relief funds

Donors from around the world stepped up after Pakistan was hammered by floods in 2022 and pledged funding to the tune of nearly $11 billion at the ‘International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan’ last year in January, which amounts to more than half of what Islamabad estimated it needed to rebound from the disaster.

Among the donors were the Islamic Development Bank with $4.2 billion, the World Bank with $2 billion, Saudi Arabia with $1 billion, as well as the European Union and China. France and the United States also made contributions.

However, up to April 2024 Pakistan had received only $2.8 billion out of $10.987 billion pledges made.

The floods, which scientists said were aggravated by global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700 from the beginning of the monsoon season in mid-June 2022 until mid-November that year.