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IMF Discusses Pakistan's Flood 'Catastrophe,' Economy

   VOA News 24 August 2010
   Tractor  trolleys with families cross a flooded highway in Baseera, in
   central Pakistan, 24 Aug 2010

Photo: AP

   Tractor  trolleys with families cross a flooded highway in Baseera, in
   central Pakistan, 24 Aug 2010

   Pakistan's  Finance  Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh is scheduled to join
   urgent economic talks at the International Monetary Fund in Washington
   Wednesday,  as  his  nation  copes  with  the aftermath of devastating
   floods.
   The  director  of  the  IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department,
   Masood  Ahmed,  says  flood  damage is hurting Pakistan's tax revenue,
   just as relief efforts are drastically raising expenses and the nation
   faces "massive" reconstruction costs.
   Pakistan  already was working to pay back an $11 billion loan from the
   IMF  that  was  helping  the  nation  cope  with  the  global economic
   crisis.   In  return  for  the loan, Pakistan had promised to tighten
   economic policies and cut expenses.
   The   IMF's   Masood  says  those  budget  targets  will  have  to  be
   revisited.  But he adds that the crisis is still unfolding, making it
   difficult to assess the economic picture.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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