Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed on Saturday that the country will raise about ₹215 billion through taxes in the last attempt to meet the loan conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The minister said Pakistan was trying it’s best to complete all the formalities needed to avail the IMF loan. Ishaq Dar said, “As a result of the talks with IMF, for the fiscal year 2023-24, the final taxes of only ₹215 billion [approximately USD 750,400,000] have been agreed, ensuring that it will not burden the poor and middle segments of the society.”
A couple of days ago, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva appealed to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to address policy disagreements among the global lender’s staff before obtaining a crucial loan for economic stabilisation. The global lender has signed a deal with Pakistan to provide it USD 6 billion if it fulfils certain conditions. The plan faced multiple setbacks and the complete reimbursement is yet to be finalized due to the donor’s insistence on Pakistan fulfilling all formalities.In the meeting between the IMF MD and Prime Minister Sharif, all the issues were discussed as the Pakistani government appeared to accept the IMF’s views on a few budgetary numbers. The Pakistani minister also commented that the country would be bringing down the expenditure, the salary hikes and pensions provided to the government employees. The details of the conversation with the IMF will be made public once the loan is settled.
Pakistan’s efforts to bag the already agreed USD 6 billion loan package are in a difficult position as the budget needs to satisfy the global lender to secure the release of more bailout money for the country’s already suffering economy. It is speculated that Pakistan might turn to external financing commitments without the active support of the IMF.
