Public Information Notice (PIN) No. 10/112

August 6, 2010 - Public Information Notices (PINs) form part of the IMF's efforts to promote transparency of the IMF's views and analysis of economic developments and policies. With the consent of the country (or countries) concerned, PINs are issued after Executive Board discussions of Article IV consultations with member countries, of its surveillance of developments at the regional level, of post-program monitoring, and of ex post assessments of member countries with longer-term program engagements. PINs are also issued after Executive Board discussions of general policy matters, unless otherwise decided by the Executive Board in a particular case.

7 August 2010 – With devastating floods, which have already ravaged large swathes of northwestern and central Pakistan, moving towards the country's south, United Nations officials are calling for relief operations to be ramped up.

Sindh Province, bordering the Arabian Sea, is already being affected by the floods triggered by torrential monsoon rains, which have so far affected at least 4 million people and claimed some 1,400 lives.

Martin Mogwanja, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, has likened the impact of the flooding – the worst in living memory – to that of the 2005 earthquake, which affected more than 3 million people.

“The assistance that we have so far provided has alleviated suffering, but relief operations need to be massively scaled up,” he said.

5 August 2010 – The United Nations health agency said today that it has begun sending medical supplies to aid thousands of people affected by recent flooding across Afghanistan, where the major health concerns right now are water contamination and the spread of waterborne diseases.

“WHO is supporting the Government response to the health needs of people affected by flooding through distributing emergency medical assistance in the provinces that have been worst affected by the ongoing floods, ensuring that the urgent health needs of the Afghan people are met,” said Peter Graaff, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan.

“As flooding continues, WHO stands prepared to immediately respond to the worsening health crisis,” he added.

WASHINGTON DC, August 5, 2010 - The newly-approved $30 million Haiti grant will go a long way towards financing critical government expenditures but, perhaps just as importantly, will also help build up confidence between the government and the Haitian population by addressing their most urgent needs, the World Bank said today.

As the Emergency Development Policy Grant helps the government close its budget gap and address accountability in the public sector, it will send strong signals to the Haitians as well as the international donor community that the government is tackling the country’s critical needs in a transparent manner, said World Bank regional vice president Pamela Cox.

5 August 2010 – The head of the United Nations rural development arm, Kanayo F. Nwanze, today began an official visit to Guatemala to talk with the Central American country’s leaders today about ways of alleviating poverty and tackling environmental challenges.

Kanayo F. Nwanze, the President of the UN International Fund Agricultural Development Fund (IFAD), will meet with President Álvaro Colom Caballeros and representatives from the IFAD-funded Rural Development Program for Las Verapaces (PRODEVER) to review progress of the programme’s poverty-reduction and market-access projects.

He will also tour the Guatemalan countryside to visit IFAD co-financed projects in the departments of El Quiché and Las Verapaces.

Wheat stocks still high in spite of the jump in prices

4 August 2010, Rome - The impact of unfavourable weather events on crops in recent weeks has led FAO to cut its global wheat production forecast for 2010 to 651 million tonnes, from 676 million tonnes reported in June.

But despite production problems in some leading exporting countries, the world wheat market remains far more balanced than at the time of the world food crisis in 2007/08 and fears of a new global food crisis are not justified at this point, FAO said.

4 August 2010 – The economic empowerment of the world’s poorest people will not happen unless their human rights are also considered, a senior United Nations official said today, urging governments around the world not to separate development and basic rights when devising policy.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that “the interrelation between freedom from want and freedom from fear” must be central to the discussions of world leaders on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their target date of 2015.

Global leaders are scheduled to gather at UN Headquarters in New York next month to assess the progress so far towards the MDGs, a series of targets for reducing social and economic ills, and where future efforts should be directed.

3 August 2010 – United Nations humanitarian agencies warned today of the possibility of waterborne disease outbreaks emerging in north-western Pakistan, where an estimated 1,400 people have already died in the region’s worst flooding in living memory and more heavy rains are forecast.

The agencies are stepping up their relief efforts as thousands of people remain trapped by flood waters, awaiting rescue and evacuation by boat or helicopter. Food, clean drinking water, tents and medical services are among the priorities for survivors, many of whom have lost their homes.

Supporting Pakistani Government relief efforts, the World Health Organization (WHO) is dispatching medicine and other health supplies capable of treating more than 200,000 people to affected areas.

3 August 2010 – The Asia-Pacific region has made significant gains towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but some countries have fallen behind, especially the region’s small island nations and other least developed countries, which need much more support, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

The MDGs are a series of poverty alleviation and social development goals, which UN Member States and international organizations have agreed to achieve by 2015. They include slashing extreme poverty, reducing maternal and child mortality rates and fighting diseases.

3 August 2010 – A United Nations-drafted petition that aims to encourage governments to make the elimination of hunger their top priority has so far been signed by more than 250,000 people and is on track to achieve its goal of a million signatures by the end of November, the UN agriculture agency said today.

The petition campaign, the brainchild of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), can be signed online at the http://www.1billionhungry.org website.