Pakistan

Kerry-Lugar funding: Majority of the funds to go to K-P and FATA

Federal cabinet to approve summary for disbursement of American aid money under the Kerry-Lugar Act.

Rauf Klasra March 09, 2011

ISLAMABAD:

The federal cabinet will approve a summary when it meets on Wednesday for disbursement of American aid money under the Kerry-Lugar Act. The lion’s share of funds under this non-military assistance programme will go to those areas that are most severely affected by terrorism and insurgency.

After the cabinet’s endorsement, money will be released for projects identified by the US government after consultations with their Pakistani counterparts. So far, 39 such projects have been singled out and $1.5 billion committed.

The federal cabinet has been asked to formally approve this funding. A total of $7.7 billion have been committed by US government for 2010-2014 which would be exclusively spent on the socio-economic uplift of the country and on human resource development.

The cabinet will also be informed that the US government has agreed to divert $718 million to the government of Pakistan while an equivalent amount will be utilised through its aid-giving agency - USAID in Pakistan.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs Division has moved a summary in the cabinet seeking approval of the financing arrangements in light of long negotiations between the US and Pakistani governments. After giving his approval, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had directed the Economic Affairs division to move a summary to the cabinet to seek its formal approval.

Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh was said to have held a series of consultative meetings with all relevant ministries and a broad framework was agreed upon for preparing a portfolio of the projects that are to be funded.

War-torn Fata and K-P will receive an allocation of $310 million. Education has been given second priority as a sum of $179 million has been allocated to it. Other heads include Economic opportunity $144 million, health $140 million, agriculture $81 million, energy $68 million and democracy and governance $98 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (14)

Veny | 13 years ago | Reply @cynic Please quote your source of information. Simple math, According to you Pakistan spends $ 18 billion on logistical support and requires $ 32 billion on damages.Leave the damages portion (it is a claim), does Pakistan's revenue after all budget allocations for defence, educational,health etc., spending will leave any room to spend $18 billion for logistical support to Afghan War? (My source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EconomyofPakistan)

Nadeem khan | 13 years ago | Reply not seen American aid useful.

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rehman | 13 years ago | Reply and us pakistanis are so ungrate ful we still dont like america!!!1how biased!!!whr r the so callled islamic brothers with their coffers full of oil money!!why is it always america and britain who come with the money!!!can anybody answer me that

frizz | 13 years ago | Reply i hope this money would be spend on poor people of KPK.

wahab | 13 years ago | Reply Good.. I think some funds should also be given to balochistan

cynic | 13 years ago | Reply Pakistan spends 18 billion dollars on logistical support because of the US started war on terror. 32 billion in damages because of the Taliban migration. Take your 7.7 billion back, and PLEASE leave us alone!

John | 13 years ago | Reply Use it wisely. 2011 will be a stagnant year in growth of economy. Save money and put it the bank for local lending to stimulate the economy. The PAK govt is borrowing heavily from State Bank of Pakistan and from International Bond market at very high interest rate. The high borrowing from SBP leaves little money for private sector loans. Industrial productivity is low and not to full capacity due to electricity shortage. If Govt implements State Bank of Pakistan and IMF recommendations, and law and order improves, in 5 years PAK economy will be on right track and in 10 years (or 15 ?) a sustained growth of 7 % / year is a reality. All bets are off if law and and order in productive areas of the country Sindh and Punjab deteriorates any further. Needless to say the rest of the area should also be in peace. Follow the comments on "Obama proposes 3.1b for PAK in 2012 budget" Feb 15, 2011 that appear along side this report to understand the details.

KR | 13 years ago | Reply God bless America, more money for our worthless politicians, hopefully all these idiots will either move to Dubai or London SOON and then we will replace them with some more idiots and start all over aging with whole bunch of empty promises. Next time DO NOT VOTE FOR A POLITICAL PARTY BUT VOTE FOR A DECENT PERSON WHO ACTUALLY HAVE SOME DESIRE AND INTENTION for actually doing something good for the country, instead of some idiot.

SMI | 13 years ago | Reply Yeah right, as if the money will be spent on improving the lives of these people. The tribal elders will have their way and buy pajeros at first sight...

Ahad Siddiqui | 13 years ago | Reply $7.7 billion only?:P

raja | 13 years ago | Reply First of all the law and order must be restored every thing else will follow If they build hundreds of destroyed schools with out law and order they will be destroyed even before completion Pakistan main focus should only be on security along with provision of basic necessities of life ( food heath)

A R Khan Yusufzai | 13 years ago | Reply A laudable step indeed. War torn Pakhtunkhwa requires immediate attention. Our roads broken. Our youth unemployed. Our kids malnourished. Our kids not receiving quality education. Our industries hit hard by the frequent energy shortage (Gas & Electricity). The prices of daily commodities out of the reach of man...ultimately leading to lawlessness. I would request to transfer the $98 million reserved for democracy and governance to Pakhtunkhwa as well and strict Financial Monitoring so that the money goes into the allocated projects and not pockets of our leadership.

Viqqar ul Haq | 13 years ago | Reply The US has certainly come out to help Pakistan reconstruct itself against the loss inflicted by the War on Terror in which Pakistan faced the brunt by being the front line state, and FATA and K-P were the most badly effected. The distribution of the funds is evenly distributed, however, the next step requires a corruption free execution of the projects identified by both the US and the Pakistan Government. Usually a major portion of the funds is siphoned off by corrupt officials. It is requested that a strong supervisory team be appointed to ensure minimum corruption and misuse of funds. The corruption is also in the form of misuse of funds on purchase and provision of equipment or facilities which are not essential but mostly a status symbol for the officials like a couple of laptops (which usually land into thye hans of the kids of these top officials), a fleet of luxury cars and transport, office equipment which is not used throughout the life of the project and ends up as junk as its disposal is also not possible. Most of these jobs should be outsourced to the private sector.

Abdul Ali | 13 years ago | Reply Please let us know the total contribution of these KP and FATA towards overall tax kitty of the country. I think it is about time that journalist start providing facts ( the data is available on FBR website--FBR quarterly reports). Also let us know various aid/federal government interventions in these two areas in last 5 years AND then compare these figures with that of Karachi

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