An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is arriving in Pakistan on Wednesday for a second and last review of a $3 billion standby arrangement, two sources said.
The four-day review begins on Thursday, said the two finance ministry officials, who were speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the information.
Islamabad secured the last-gasped rescue package last summer to avert a sovereign default.
The last review, if successful, will release a tranche of around $1.1 billion.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already directed his finance team, headed by newly installed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to initiate work on seeking an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) after the standby arrangement expires on April 11.
Aurangzeb told reporters that the team was arriving this week, without mentioning a date, according to the Dawn daily.
The lender has said it will formulate a medium-term programme if Islamabad applies for one.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in New Delhi by the end of year, but no dates have been finalised yet, a Russian embassy official in India said on Wednesday.
India and China agreed on Tuesday to resume direct flights and step up trade and investment flows as the neighbours rebuild ties damaged by a 2020 border clash.
Air Canada's unionised flight attendants have reached an agreement with the country's largest carrier on Tuesday, ending the first strike by its cabin crew in 40 years that had upended travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude another six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following an ethics review of its Israeli investments.