Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has urged the world to continue to help the South Asian nation recover from devastating floods ahead of a United Nations conference next month to mobilize funding.
Pakistan is facing an economic crisis with reserves covering one month of imports, a dollar shortage and a delay in its loan program with the International Monetary Fund. Investors are still concerned about the nation’s ability of its debt, with long-term dollar bonds continuing to trade at distressed levels despite the payment of a $1 billion bond this month.
"We find ourselves in this incredibly difficult position where we’re trying to manage our macroeconomic indicators with the IMF and provide the imminent relief for the people that is still necessary now in Pakistan, and plan forward for reconstruction and rehabilitation,” Zardari, 34, said in an interview. "Unfortunately, the cameras have gone, the attention has disappeared, but there are still floodwaters in many areas of my country.”