<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Inflation has risen to a 48-year high in crisis-hit Pakistan, where the International Monetary Fund is visiting for urgent talks, according to data released on Wednesday by the country's statistics bureau.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Inflation in January was recorded at 27.55 percent, the highest since May 1975, with thousands of containers of imports held up at Karachi port.</div><div><br></div><div>Pakistan's economy is in dire straits, stricken by a balance of payments crisis while it attempts to service high amounts of external debt.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The world's fifth-biggest population has less than $3.7 billion in the state bank -- enough to cover just three weeks of imports.</div><div><br></div><div>On Tuesday, an IMF delegation arrived in Islamabad to revive negotiations over a stalled bailout package with the government, which has so far held out from meeting the global lender's tough conditions. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>