KARACHI: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to meet today, Thursday, in Washington for the first review of a $3 billion short-term financing package and to consider the release of the $700 million second tranche to Pakistan.
The board had approved a much-needed, 9-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for the country last year in July to support the government’s economic stabilization program. Pakistan also received the first tranche of $1.2 billion along with the endorsement for the loan program.
A visiting IMF delegation and Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) over the first review under the SBA in November, which was subject to the executive board’s approval to unlock the $700 million disbursement. Pakistani economists said they were hopeful the country would comfortably get access to the money after the SLA.
“There are big chances that the IMF board will easily grant approval for the disbursement of the funds to Pakistan because the country has successfully implemented the reforms and reached an SLA,” Dr. Sajid Amin, Deputy Executive Director at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), told Arab News.
Amin hoped the IMF board’s approval would help Pakistan’s national currency to regain some of its lost value, adding it would also have a positive impact on the country’s overall economic landscape.
Pakistan cleared the first review under the SBA after taking painful economic measures, including increases in energy prices and tax burden, which led to spiraling inflation that hit 38 percent in May last year. The prices of essential commodities still remain quite elevated.
As Pakistan prepares for the national election on Feb. 8, experts say it will have to chart a clear roadmap to run the economy.
“The next review of the program is important for Pakistan since it will lay down the foundation for the next IMF facility which the country will require,” Amin said.
Timely national elections and a well-thought-out economic gameplan by the next elected government will help secure the fresh IMF program and avoid any economic panic situation in the future, Amin argued.
Preparations for a follow-on program are likely to start after the conclusion of the current SBA in April 2024, as the country is scheduled to elect its new political leaders in the coming month.
Pakistan’s economic landscape has weathered a storm in recent years with fluctuating commodity prices, political turmoil and harsh blows dealt by floods.
The nation has been grappling with trade and current account deficits, mounting inflation and low foreign exchange reserves that exerted pressure on the currency that also hit historic lows against the United States dollar.
IMF board expected to approve $700 million disbursement for Pakistan later today
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IMF board expected to approve $700 million disbursement for Pakistan later today
- The board approved a much-needed, 9-month loan amounting to $3 billion in July to support economic stabilization program
- Experts say a clear economic roadmap can set the foundation for the next IMF program for Pakistan after the general elections
Pakistan turns to immersive technology to reimagine ancient Gandhara
- New gallery uses artificial intelligence and 3D visuals to present Buddhist heritage
- Visitors can explore archaeological sites digitally rather than through static displays
ISLAMABAD: At the Islamabad Museum, history no longer sits quietly behind glass.
In September 2025, the museum introduced Pakistan’s first Digital Immersive Gallery, an experiment in how ancient civilizations can be narrated in the age of artificial intelligence, 3D projection and virtual environments. Developed in collaboration with the Korea Heritage Agency, Pakistan’s Department of Archaeology and the National Heritage and Culture Division, the gallery marks a shift from object-centered displays to experience-based storytelling.
Rather than beginning with labels and timelines, the gallery opens with movement, sound and light. Visitors are invited to step into a reconstructed visual world shaped around Gandhara, one of South Asia’s most influential yet often under-explained civilizations that developed across what is now northwestern Pakistan and parts of eastern Afghanistan and later played a foundational role in the spread of Buddhism beyond the subcontinent.
“We have shown here in our Immersive Gallery how Buddhism flourished here, how it was introduced, how it declined and how it shifted to China, Korea and Japan from here,” Dr. Abdul Ghafoor, Deputy Director at the Department of Archaeology and Museums, told Arab News.
“In order to make it, the content developed by Korea has fully used AI and IT,” he continued. “AI and IT are common in Korea and other developed countries, but we have done it for the first time in Pakistan.”
Gandhara flourished between the first century BCE and the fifth century CE in this region, which served as a cultural crossroads, shaped by Greek, Central Asian, Persian and South Asian influences.
It was here that artists first began depicting the Buddha in human form, a visual language that later traveled along trade routes to Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. This transmission of ideas, beliefs and artistic styles forms the core narrative of the immersive gallery.
“Inside the gallery, visitors are drawn into a world of interactive experiences, heritage documentaries they can zoom in and out of, Gandhara artifacts explored up close and photo zones where they can capture themselves against Pakistan’s most iconic sites,” Muhammad Azeem, Project Director at the Department of Archaeology and Museums, said.
While Gandhara anchors the gallery, the experience expands outward to place it within a longer and wider historical arc. One section is dedicated to Pakistan’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, offering visitors a compressed journey across centuries and regions.
“The main hall takes it further with a fully immersive 3D journey,” Azeem added. “Each seven-minute segment transports audiences to treasures like Mohenjo-Daro, Makli Necropolis, Lahore’s Shalimar Gardens and Sheesh Mahal, and the historic landscapes of Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, making the past feel vivid, unforgettable and alive.”
For many visitors, the gallery’s appeal lies in how it lowers the barrier to understanding. Instead of long explanatory panels, history is introduced through visuals, motion and guided narrative.
“I saw different historical sites on big screens which was very exciting for me,” Fatima Nawaz, a government employee, said. “After that, I watched a complete documentary in the gallery, which was about 20 minutes long, and in which different historical sites related to Gandhara were highlighted.”
“Overall, it was a very good experience,” she added.
Researchers see the initiative as part of a broader global shift in how museums function.
“My topic is Cultural Heritage Museum, and with this research, I am studying and visiting museums,” Abdul Khaliq, an M.Phil. student at Quaid-e-Azam University, said. “One thing I have not seen in Pakistan before is the shift toward virtual reality.”
He added that it was a good step while calling the immersive gallery “very educational and gives us a lot to learn.”
For the officials involved in the project, the gallery is a starting point rather than a finished model.
“The response we have received from the public in Islamabad makes me feel that this should be done in all the museums, in all four provinces of Pakistan,” Dr. Ghafoor, the senior archaeology department official, said. “This is because it can make it easier to follow history.”
“I think such immersive galleries should be there in all the museums,” he added.
