There is news of an agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the question of releasing the next installment of the loan. According to the news published in a part of Pakistani media, its details will be revealed by Friday or next Monday. The Shahbaz Sharif government was scrambling to get loan installments from the IMF ever since it came to power. It is understood that the IMF had put many conditions in front of him for this. According to the latest news, both the parties agreed on Tuesday night. But it is not fully known which conditions of the IMF have been accepted by the Government of Pakistan.

government spending cut
According to Pakistan's newspaper The News, the IMF had put many conditions related to the budget of the Sharif government from 2022-23. The most important of these is the reduction in government expenditure so that Pakistan's treasury revenue becomes surplus in the next financial year. That is, the government should be in a position of fiscal advantage. Sharif and ministers in his government have made several such statements recently, saying that the government is ready to take the harshest steps. Under this, the price of petrol has been increased by Rs 85 per liter within a month.

According to media reports, now the IMF will hand over the draft of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEEP) to Pakistan on Friday. However, some news has also said that this will happen next Monday. After that, based on that document, the IMF and the State Bank of Pakistan will prepare a blueprint for monetary targets. This will include targets to reduce inflation, improve the health of foreign exchange reserves, and solidify domestic assets.

Pak government should collect Rs 550 billion
It is understood that these measures will have a severe hit on the common people in the country. People are already troubled by the inflation of petrol and other things. The steps taken by the government so far include imposing an additional tax of Rs 1,200 on the employees earning salaries ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. According to The News, the government has agreed to bring down its expenditure to Rs 152 billion. This means that there will be a huge cut in the budget for development and public welfare in the country. Apart from this, an additional duty of Rs 5 will be levied on petrol immediately. Gradually this fee will be increased to Rs.30. The IMF has asked the Pakistan government to collect Rs 550 billion through this fee.

It is not yet known whether the agreed-upon also contains any conditions regarding projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Earlier it was reported that the IMF has asked Pakistan to renegotiate the terms of power purchase from power projects belonging to CPEC. But it was later denied by the IMF.

According to observers, these steps will have an adverse reaction from the public inside Pakistan. Due to this, the popularity of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government led by Shahbaz Sharif is likely to fall further. On the other hand, the increasing troubles of the people will give further impetus to the anti-government campaign of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Rs 48,600 crore loan to Pakistan from Chinese banks
Pakistan's Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Twitter on Wednesday, "Pakistan has signed an agreement to provide 48,600 million Pakistani rupees (US$230 million) with a consortium of Chinese banks. The amount of this loan will be received in a few days. Thanking the Chinese government for making this agreement possible, he said, it will help us in managing our foreign exchange reserves.

A recent study has shown that changes in temperature have had a negative effect on new species of bumble bees over the past 120 years. These research findings have recently been published in Biology Letters.

Hannah Jackson, a postgraduate student in the M Gonigal Lab of Biology at Simon Fraser University, said on the study, "Bumble bees (Bumble bees) are important pollinators for wild plants and also for crops that humans depend on for food." We, therefore, need to develop conservation strategies that account for the future effects of climate change on bee populations.

Jackson and his colleagues in-depth analyzed existing datasets containing records on 46 bumblebee species in North America between 1900 and 2020. He made two models. First, on time and second on environmental factors. They found that six species of bumblebees decreased over time, while 22 increased and 18 remained stable, based on climate and land use.

The researchers noted that both temperature and precipitation increased between 1900 and 2020. on average in the period after the Industrial Revolution. Temperature change has mainly had a negative effect on bumble bees. 37 of the 46 species exhibited a greater decline than a change in temperature or a less positive increase in occupancy if the temperature remained constant. Importantly, nine species of bumble bee showed declines, which are associated with changing temperatures within their ranges. The team didn't find patterns in the other factors studied, such as rainfall and flower resources in which only one species declined.

In fact, both flower resources and rainfall had mixed results. About half of the bumblebee bee species were negatively affected by changes in rain flower resources, while the other half were positively affected. Therefore, the researchers conclude that changing temperatures are a major environmental factor that drives changes in bumble bee community composition. As bumble bee species vary in land use and future responses to climate change, says Jackson, conservation of these species should take precedence.