Floods to drag up to 9m Pakistanis into poverty: WB

Between six and nine million Pakistanis are set to be dragged into poverty as a result of cataclysmic monsoon flooding linked to climate change, the World Bank said on Thursday.

Pakistan has been lashed by unprecedented monsoon rains this year which killed 1,700, devastated two million homes, and put a third of the nation underwater. Eight million people remain displaced, living in ramshackle tent cities and scattered camps near the stagnant lakes which swallowed their belongings and livelihoods.

A World Bank report said Pakistan’s poverty rate is expected to rise between 2.5 and 4 percentage points as a direct consequence of the floods.

Loss of jobs, livestock, harvests, houses, and the closure of schools -- as well as spread of disease and rising food costs -- threaten to put between 5.8 and 9 million in poverty, it said.

“Reversing these negative socio-economic effects is likely to take considerable time,” it added.

In the nation of 220 million some 20 per cent are already living below the poverty line, according to Asian Development Bank data.

Before the deluges began Pakistan’s coffers were already in dire shape, with a cost-of-living crisis, a nose-diving rupee and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

The World Bank said inflation in the country is set to stand at 23 per cent for the financial year 2023.