The United States of America has announced an additional $100 million of recovery and reconstruction funding for Pakistan, reported 24NewsHD TV Channel on Tuesday. 

The US State Department spokesperson in his press briefing said on Monday that since last year’s devastating floods in Pakistan, the US government has worked closely with Pakistan to provide funding assistance for flood response, food security, disaster preparedness, and capacity-building efforts.

“I am pleased to share that today the United States announced an additional $100 million of recovery and reconstruction funding, bringing our total contribution to over $200 million,” spokesperson Ned Price said.

He said that the new $100 million in funding would be used for flood protection and governance, disease surveillance, economic growth and clean energy, climate-smart agriculture, food security, and infrastructure reconstruction. The funding also includes humanitarian assistance to support flood relief and recovery efforts in refugee-hosting areas.

He further said that the US flood-related assistance complements its broader efforts to form a US-Pakistan Green Alliance that looks at the range of climate and resilience issues central to Pakistan’s reconstruction. Pakistan’s recovery and reconstruction will be a continuing process in the months and years ahead, and we will continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to build a more climate-resilient future for its people, he stated.

When asked by a journalist what is the US’s take on Pakistan’s stance that keeping in view large-scale devastation caused by the floods, the IMF should relax its conditions as has been expounded by the country at donors’ conference in Geneva, the spokesperson said: “This is ultimately a decision for the IMF, so would defer to them on that. We of course want to see Pakistan continue down the path of reform. We want to be a partner. We will continue to be a partner to Pakistan when it comes to all of their priorities, whether it’s security, whether it’s economic in this case, or humanitarian in the case of the provision of the additional funding for the flood relief today.”