Islamabad, Jan 11 (IANS): The European Commission (EC) will provide 42 million euro (around $55 million) in humanitarian aid to Pakistan this year, a media report said Friday.

The aid was announced in Brussels Thursday, as part of a 661-million-euro assistance the EC has allocated for 2013, the Dawn reported.

The EC said that part of the budget is dedicated to "forgotten crises", communities that receive little media attention and for whom the commission is often the only major donor.

For 2013, the EC identified several population groups in nine countries - India, Algeria, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Colombia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Yemen.

"The scope and size of the Commision's worldwide humanitarian aid decision is a sober reminder of the extent of humanitarian needs around the world. For hundreds of millions of people crises are not rare events but recurrent, seemingly unavoidable hardships," Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, was quoted as saying.

Georgieva said the EU provides humanitarian assistance solely based on where people's needs were most pressing, and independently of any political agenda.