International donor agencies and other creditors have agreed to provide $1 billion to Pakistan to help alleviate poverty, officials said. Positive negotiations had been held with the World Bank, The Asian Development Bank, The United States Agency for International Development, The Canadian International Development Agency and other supporters in this regard. Officials said Pakistan was being expected by the donor community to reduce the level of poverty by half by 2015 in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals. According to the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey, conducted in 2001, 32.1 per cent of the population was in the grip of poverty. Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance Dr Salman Shah says Pakistan had been assured by the donor community to get $1 billion for alleviating poverty. The $1 billion foreign funding will be a blend of soft loans and grants and, as such, would not be a burden on the government, Shah said. The government, he said, planned to initiate development projects of international standards to be regularly monitored by the government to ensure proper utilization of funds. The advisor said the overall poverty related expenditure in 2005-06 would be Rs324 billion, including funds for the Khushhal [prosperous] Pakistan Programme (KPP) aimed at providing clean drinking water, basic health and education facilities, vocational training and micro credit to people. "We have allocated Rs20 billion for the KPP which will be increased to over Rs60 billion, for which the government is seeking $1 billion from the donors," Shah said.
