ISLAMABAD, Nov. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The world community has made cumulative pledges of 5.827 billion US dollars for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of Pakistan quake-hit areas and the amount is likely to rise further, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Saturday.

    Speaking at a news conference at the end of the one-day international donors conference in Islamabad, Aziz said that of the total pledges, 3.9 billion were soft loans and the remaining 1.9 billion were grants.

    The Pakistani prime minister said that some of the loans would be concessional, some interest free and some will have only service charges.

    The grants, he said, would be both in cash and kind.

    Aziz pointed out that perhaps for the first time pledges had surpassed estimates.

    "It is a successful day in the history of Pakistan as the outcome of the conference has been better than our expectations," he said.

    He said that this was reflective of Pakistan's enhanced prestige in the world community, its role in the region and President's personal rapport with the world leaders, adding that this was also an indicator of Pakistan's successful foreign policy.

    Aziz categorically stated that the aid would be utilized strictly under the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability.

    He also expressed the confidence that the reconstruction activities would not impact negatively the performance of our economy and instead these would generate more employment opportunities. Enditem