Dar to have receptive audience at lenders’ moot

Finance Minis­ter Ishaq Dar will find a receptive audience at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when he joins their annual meetings on Wednesday. The IMF has approved $77 billion in financing facilities for 10 troubled economies, including Pakistan’s, since the start of the Ukraine war on Feb 24, a London-based research firm, Tellimer reported. The annual meetings that started on Monday, include talks on a number of emerging markets squeezed by rising inflation, borrowing costs and the global economic crunch. Pakistan faces most of these challenges. Last week, credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Pakistan’s rating to Caa1 from B3 due to increased risks to debt sustainability after the floods. Last week, the World Bank rep­orted that Pakistan’s economy could grow by only 2 per cent in the current fiscal year ending June 2023.