Climate-oriented fiscal strategy finalised for IMF

In a bid to meet a crucial deadline of the IMF and protect funding from major multilateral agencies, the government has finalised a fiscal strategy envisaging all future investments — including those coming through the newly formed Special Investment Facilitation Council — to be completely climate resilient. Under the strategy, the public sector development programme (PSDP), public-private partnership (PPP), and the SIFC are required to be reoriented for climate finance, innovative instruments, carbon credits, and accreditation with global fora. One of the four key objectives of the ongoing $3bn Standby Arrangement (SBA) with the IMF requires Pakistan to build climate resilience given repeated cycles of extreme weather conditions and natural disasters. The adoption of ‘Climate-Public Investment Management Assessment (C-PIMA)’ and PIMA action plan by the federal cabinet is one of the three structural benchmarks to be achieved by the end of this year. Planning Secretary Awais Manzur Sumra shared the progress made so far with the visiting IMF staff mission on Friday. Sources told Dawn that policy-level discussion to be led by caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar with the IMF mission would begin on Monday (today), after its technical round of talks and interactions with the ministries of finance, planning, energy besides National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Federal Board of Revenue and the State Bank of Pakistan.