World Bank to lend Pakistan $900m for recovery The World Bank is to loan $900m to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst eve

The World Bank is to loan $900m to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst ever flooding. The devastating floods have affected up to 20 million people and left some 2,000 dead, say officials.

The World Bank funds will come through the reprogramming of planned projects and the reallocation of money, a World Bank spokesman said.

"We are reprioritising to make the funds immediately available," he told Reuters news agency.

But the UN says international aid has been slow and that it has raised only a third of the $460m needed for emergency relief.

Maurizio Giuliano, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned that Pakistan would face "a second wave of deaths" from water-borne diseases and food shortages unless more aid arrived soon. He estimated the number of people at risk from such diseases was six million.

Health officials have warned that disease could spread quickly among the millions of displaced people and that 3.5m children are at risk.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain said it could take five years and $15bn for the country to recover.