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9 million Pakistanis will become poor due to catastrophic floods: World Bank report

According to the World Bank, six to nine million Pakistanis will fall into poverty as a result of the monsoon flooding. Unprecedented monsoon rains that hit Pakistan this year resulted in 1,700 fatalities, the destruction of two million homes, and the submersion of a third of the country. According to a World Bank assessment, the floods will directly cause Pakistan’s poverty rate to increase by 2.5 to four percentage points.

It stated that between 5.8 and 9 million people might become impoverished as a result of the loss of jobs, cattle, crops, residences, and schools, as well as the spread of illnesses and rising food prices. It said, ‘It is likely to take some time to reverse these detrimental socio-economic repercussions’. In shabby tent cities and dispersed camps, there are still eight million displaced people. Data from the Asian Development Bank show that over 20% of Pakistan’s 220 million people are already living in poverty.

The nation has been struggling with a crisis in the cost of living, a plummeting rupee, and shrinking foreign exchange reserves. According to the World Bank, countrywide inflation is anticipated to be 23% in fiscal year 2023. The disaster that occurred in the nation was attributed to climate change by the Pakistani government and the World Health Organization. Pakistan ranks highly among the countries vulnerable to extreme weather brought on by climate change while producing less than 1% of the world’s greenhouse gases.

As a sort of climate justice, Islamabad has urged wealthier, more industrialised countries with higher carbon footprints to contribute to the relief effort. Climate change minister Sherry Rehman stated on Tuesday that ‘we have no space to give our economy a stimulus package, which would create jobs and provide people with the steady incomes they require’.

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