Pakistani finance minister sees gradual recovery from floods

Pakistan’s new finance minister estimated that it could take “close to three years” for the south Asian country to recover from devastating floods that killed more than 1,700 people and displaced another 7.9 million.
Ishaq Dar, who last month took the finance post for the fourth time in his career, told The Associated Press Friday that losses from the floods were estimated to surpass $32 billion and that the cost of rebuilding damaged infrastructure will exceed $16 billion.
Monsoon rains, likely made worse by climate change, hammered Pakistan for months starting in mid-June, damaging or washing away 2 million homes. Rebuilding, Dar said, “can’t be done overnight” and will take ” maybe close to three years”
though he acknowledged that he was “not an engineer.” The World Bank last month pledged $2 billion in flood aid.