IMF, Pakistan to open $1 billion climate finance talks next week, says adviser

ISLAMABAD: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will arrive in Islamabad next week to discuss around $1 billion in climate financing for Pakistan, an adviser to the Pakistan 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.

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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.

The country’s economy is on a long path to recovery after being stabilised 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.