The devastating floods that have once again submerged vast swathes of the country underscore the brutal paradox facing the government — climate catastrophes are intensifying, but the exchequer is increasingly ill-equipped to respond due to the weight of austerity and debt. With a mini-budget now on the cards to address the massive costs of disaster response, the government must come up with a way to ensure that short-term disaster response financing measures do not lead to further human suffering through development budget cuts and failure to invest in the future.

Pakistan's existing economic vulnerabilities are stark, as almost half of the budget is already dedicated to debt servicing, and non-development expenses such as pensions take up another large share, leaving scant resources for

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