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Finance Minister Ishaq Dar assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in virtual talks on Tuesday that the government will meet all conditions, including the increase in gas prices and oil production duty.
According to the sources, the economic team has practically participated in the talks with the IMF and the officials of the Ministry of Finance have informed the IMF about the new tax measures in the micro-budget.
The IMF has set preconditions, including increasing the PDL for petroleum products, ending subsidies for electricity and setting the dollar exchange rate in line with the market, while interbank and free market differences must be eliminated.
The international lender also urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to raise revenue and net tax targets to meet the targets set in the budget.
According to the sources, there is still deadlock in the virtual negotiations between the Ministry of Finance and the IMF, and the date of the mission of the IMF for the ninth review of the negotiations has not been confirmed. Negotiations between officials of the IMF and the Ministry of Finance will also be held on Wednesday.
The sources further said that the IMF wants to approve its requests before the end of the history of this mission, and the officials of the Ministry of Finance have assured that they will fulfill all the preconditions in the negotiations. It is likely that the date of the IMF delegation will be determined at the end of the negotiations.
Earlier, the federal government had written to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asking it to send a team to the impoverished Pakistan next week to review the ninth approval of the next tranche of loans expected since September last year.
The government is reportedly ready to meet the world lender’s four key conditions for reviving the loan program as the South Asian nation’s foreign exchange reserves continue to languish, putting the country’s main imports at risk and causing turmoil. a new wave of inflation.
The four main demands proposed by the IMF for the revival of this program include an increase in the price of gas and electricity, the exchange rate in the market and additional taxes to cover the budget deficit.
Finance Minister Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh has formally sent a letter to the head of the IMF mission to visit Pakistan next week to restart the much-needed loan program.
An official told the media that the government has completed the work to fulfill the four demands of the IMF, which were sent by the officials of the Fund at a meeting on the sidelines of the Geneva debate.
Another official said that Pakistan cannot afford to fail in negotiations with the world lender because it could have a negative impact on the country.
The IMF approved the seventh and eighth revisions last August and disbursed more than $1.1 billion.
Minister of State for Finance Ayesha Gaus Pasha told the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday that the government wants to continue the program with the IMF in a way that the common man does not have to bear the burden of tough decisions made under the law. condition of the fund.
Mrs. Pasha said the government’s economic team is meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to discuss his program with the IMF. He said that the prime minister was not in favor of taking tax measures across the board that could put additional burdens on the poor and common people.
In response to this question, he did not give the date of the start of negotiations with the IMF team, but said that the government is determined to implement the program after the completion of detailed training. He said that the government will try to convince the IMF that the situation in Pakistan is worst since last year’s catastrophic floods.
“People are already suffering from catastrophic floods and they cannot afford to do anything else.”
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