ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have begun a virtual engagement for ninth review of a $7 billion loan programme, the Finance Ministry said on Monday, after a local media report that the Fund has asked the country to cut expenses.

The government has shared fiscal data, including flood and related expenditures, with the IMF and a team from the Fund is expected to visit Islamabad soon, the ministry added.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad, writing by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Toby Chopra)