International Monetary Fund

"There are increasing risks that Pakistan may be unable to complete the IMF programme that expires at the end of June," a sovereign analyst with the rating company in Singapore Grace Lim said. Lim said: "Without an IMF programme, Pakistan could default, given its very weak reserves."

In a latest forecast, the IMF has reduced the economic growth estimates of Pakistan to 0.5 per cent, while the inflation spike projection estimates are far above 20 per cent for at least two years. The staggering estimates showcase Pakistan's deep rooted financial crisis, which are showing their damaging affects on the people, who are facing severe hardships, which for the moment, are not going to end soon.

The fund's had a grim warning for the global economy though: while the recovery from pandemic and the war in Ukraine will continue, although at a rate slower than projected before, because of recent turmoil in the banking sector -- shutting down of two regional banks in the US and the distress sale of Switzerland's Credit Suisse -- the "fog around the world economic outlook has thickened".

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said increases in borrowing costs are likely to be "temporary" once high inflation is brought under control. The Bank of England has been raising interest rates since December 2021, taking them from 0.1 per cent to 4.25 per cent. This has raised mortgage payments for many homeowners.

Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF's managing director, said that a sharp slowdown in the world economy last year after the aftershocks of the Covid pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine would continue in 2023, and risked persisting for the next five years, The Guardian reported.

Virtual negotiations with the IMF continued till late at night on Friday, as the officials from the international lender "painstakingly reviewed" every aspect, Geo News reported. The sources said that Pakistan has agreed to raise its policy rate by 2 per cent. It currently stands at 17 per cent, the report said. The sources also added that details regarding reforms in the power sector are being finalised and after the settlement, a staff-level agreement (SLA) will be signed.

Stoltenberg was set to leave NATO in September, but his term was extended into late 2023 amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. With no successor for the post in clear sight, Stoltenberg may end up having his tenure extended even beyond 2023 - potentially for another year - multiple media reports have suggested, RT reported.

"Emerging markets and developing countries have stressed that for them, it is paramount that they have the opportunity to drive growth and employment on the basis of a more integrated global economy," Georgieva said at a press conference during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in response to a question from Xinhua news agency.

Adding to signs that the government is preparing to announce a U-turn over its plan to scrap a rise in corporation tax, the Chancellor left the US capital a day earlier than planned, The Guardian reported. Treasury sources said the chancellor had two constructive days in Washington but was keen to get back to London to engage with colleagues over his medium-term fiscal plan, due to be announced on October 31.