GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. says it still needs $4.8 billion for the rest of the year to bring aid to 43 million people who have fled fighting, suffer from droughts and disasters around the world.

The U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes says the global body needs a record $9.5 billion for all of 2009 for humanitarian aid because more people need help than in previous years.

He says fighting in Pakistan and Sri Lanka that has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people, and droughts and civil wars in Africa, have made the U.N. budget soar.

Holmes said Tuesday governments have maintained their funding pledges, despite the global economic downturn.

He says the U.N. has received nearly 49 percent of its funding requirements for 2009.