Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has ascribed a trust deficit as the reason for the reluctance of donors to release the funding promised for helping the country recover from the 2022 bloods. Of pledges of $11 billion which had been made at a donors conference, only $2.6 billion had actually been disbursed. Senator Aurangzeb may be putting too favourable an interpretation on the reluctance, as it smacks of something of an excuse. It is true that the pledged aid consists of taxpayers’ money, which foreign governments have a responsibility to see spent on the purposes, but at the same time, it should be remembered that not disbursing the funds has the same result as if the funds are misused: those in need of help are left without help. One reason why foreign donors are hesitant is how aid has been used in the past, as a means of elite capture, through allowing, even encouraging, embezzlement.
However, it should be noted that this aid is not for development. At best, it is meant to replace destroyed development. Because of this, it would help the government greatly if it got rid of the thought that the aid would help the country out in its foreign exchange difficulties. It may sound callous, but it is actually fortunate that flood aid can be tied down specifically to particular projects, which means that the element of government corruption can be removed. It should also be remembered that this aid is no favour or humanitarian sentiment, but a matter of justice. Pakistan is facing ever more extreme weather because of emissions of greenhouse gases made by First World countries, so aid is not charity, but simply a form of climate justice.
The excuse of corruption is meant to absolve the donors, though their contractors and private companies are as inclined to turn a dishonest dollar as anyone in the Third World. Though COP28 created a Loss and Damage Fund, the First World, having ruined the whole world for everyone, and which is busy continuing the same bad behaviour and profligate habits that have caused the climate crisis in the first place, is once again putting money ahead of justice, on the excuse that the Third World is corrupt. Third World corruption and First World pollution are too different issues, but unfortunately, Pakistan is being made to suffer the consequences of both.
