ISLAMABAD: The government has assured the nation the pledges of over $10 billion, made by the international community at the donors’ conference in Geneva for flood-hit Pakistan, are more reliable than the pledges made by the Pakistan government to the nation.
At a press conference in Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, alongside Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, and multiparty cabinet members including Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, reiterated that the promises made by the donors should not be conflated with the trustworthiness coefficient formulated by all parties represented in the government.
“They are going to live up to their word. They are not like us, we can assure you that. Their pledges are more reliable than ours,” PM Sharif said while talking to the media.
Finance Minister Dar reaffirmed that the vows of the international community were genuine based on the conditions surrounding the money being offered.
“90 per cent of pledges, worth $8.7 billion, are project loans. So they are only offering what they can give us, and have laid out a proper plan with regards to recovering it,” he said.
“They are not making hollow, unrealistic, promises like us,” he added.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further echoed the sentiments, but added that the government and the parties represented shouldn’t be considered completely irrelevant on the matter of the money being pledged.
“We’ll still be the ones managing the distribution of the money,” Bilawal said while addressing the journalists.
“And you all know how that goes.”
