Private News reported that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed a delegation will visit Pakistan in mid-March to review the country’s $7 billion loan program.

IMF representative Mair Benitez stated that the delegation will meet with Pakistani authorities to discuss the first review under the loan program.

The IMF delegation will review the loan program and discuss Pakistan’s request for climate financing. Additionally, a technical team from the IMF will visit Pakistan at the end of February to address the technical aspects of climate financing.

The technical team will evaluate potential arrangements for climate financing and discuss related technical matters.

Before this, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that “Pakistan will hold talks with IMF delegation on February 24 for climate fund.”

Aurangzeb stated that Pakistan expects to receive $1 to $1.5 billion from the international lender under climate funding. He also confirmed that another IMF delegation will visit Pakistan in March for the six-month review of the ongoing loan program.

The minister stated that Pakistan maintained a surplus current account for seven months and stressed the need for structural reforms to fix the economy’s ‘DNA.’

In October last year, Pakistan formally requested around $1 billion in funding from the IMF under the trust to address the country’s climate vulnerability.

Pakistan’s economy is on a long path to recovery after stabilizing under the $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility secured late last year.

The Global Climate Risk Index ranks Pakistan among the most vulnerable countries to climate change.

The 2022 floods, which scientists linked to global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700. Pakistan’s economic struggles and high debt burden limited its ability to respond to the disaster.

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