Pakistan to receive only half of promised US aid

Pakistan Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen has said Islamabad would receive only the half of the actual monetary assistance promised by the United States, as a huge amount of money is likely to be deducted for administrative costs.

In an interview to the Financial Times, Tareen urged the Obama administration to channelise the assistance through Pakistani agencies to avoid the high intermediation charges.

"Whatever aid (the US is giving) must have full impact on the ground which is why they should route as much of this aid through our agencies than their own agencies.Frankly, we only receive almost 50-55 percent of the aid, 40-45 percent becomes intermediation expenses," The Daily Times quoted Tareen, as saying.

Tareen's statement come after the several Friends of Pakistan countries (FoP) asked Islamabad to provide details about usage of the funds before demanding extra assistance.

The donors' meeting in Turkey earlier this week failed to cement the earlier pledges of 5.7 billion dollars in aid despite an appeal by the United Nations.

It may be noted that he United States has incresed economic assistance to Pakistan, and would be providing 7.5 billion dollars to the troubled nation over the next five years.