ISLAMABAD: An International Monetary Fund mission will arrive in Islamabad next week to discuss around $1 billion in climate financing for Pakistan, an adviser to the country’s finance minister said on Thursday.
Khurram Schehzad told Reuters that the mission would visit from February 24 to 28 for a “review and discussion” of climate resilience funding.
The disbursement will take place under the Fund’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust, created in 2022 to provide long-term concessional cash for climate-related spending, such as adaptation and transitioning to cleaner energy.
Pakistan made a formal request in October last year for around $1 billion in funding from the IMF under the trust, to address the nation’s vulnerability to climate change.
Pakistan’s Geo News TV had earlier reported that the IMF would issue the $1 billion for climate financing next week.
The country’s economy is on a long path to recovery after being stabilized under a $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility it secured late last year.
Another IMF mission will arrive in Pakistan in the first week of March for a first review of that facility, Schehzad said.
The Global Climate Risk Index places Pakistan among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Floods in 2022, which scientists said were aggravated by global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700. The country’s economic struggles and high debt burden impinged its ability to respond to the disaster.
IMF, Pakistan to open $1 billion climate finance talks next week — adviser
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IMF, Pakistan to open $1 billion climate finance talks next week — adviser
- Khurram Schehzad says mission would visit from Feb. 24-28 for discussion of climate resilience funding
- Disbursement will take place under the Fund’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust, created in 2022
Pakistan’s Sindh orders inquiry after clashes at Imran Khan party rally in Karachi
- Khan’s PTI party accuses police of shelling to disperse its protesters, placing hurdles to hinder rally in Karachi
- Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah vows all those found guilty in the inquiry will be punished
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has ordered an inquiry into clashes that took place between police and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Karachi on Sunday, as it held a rally to demand his release from prison.
The provincial government had granted PTI permission to hold a public gathering at Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah Park and had also welcomed Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party is in power, when he arrived in the city last week. However, the PTI cited a delay in receiving a permit and announced a last-minute change to a gate of Mazar-i-Quaid, the mausoleum of the nation’s founder.
Despite the change, PTI supporters congregated at the originally advertised venue. PTI officials claimed the party faced obstacles in reaching the venue and that its supporters were met with police intervention. Footage of police officers arresting Khan supporters in Karachi were shared widely on social media platforms.
“A complete inquiry is being held and whoever is found guilty in this, he will be punished,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said while speaking to a local news channel on Sunday.
Shah said the PTI had sought permission to hold its rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi from the Sindh government, even though the venue’s administration falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
He said problems arose when the no objection certificate to hold the rally was delayed for a few hours and the party announced it would hold the rally “on the road.”
The rally took place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated since August 2023, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases.
