- Defense expenses exempt in the middle of security reasons.
- Pakistan is looking for $ 1 billion. In commercial loans from UAE.
- The government aims to end the IMF adjusted budget by June.
Islamabad: The Visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) -Team has indicated its unwillingness to support broad relief for the wages, property, beverages and export sectors connecting such measures to a similar reduction in public spending and the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) tax collection, The news reported.
This position has emerged as the central theme of the ongoing discussions, where the IMF delegation is set to end its visit on Friday (today).
A remarkable exception to the Fund’s Sparepush is the defense budget that the Pakistani government is expected to rise due to prevailing geopolitical considerations.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his financial team met with the IMF delegation, led by Jihad Azour, the Fund’s director of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Pakistan has requested the fund to postpone an increase in fat on fertilizer from 5 to 10% and 5% pesticides impairment. The IMF may be able to give its consent to some extent at the prime minister’s request. The increase in wages and pensions would be minimal, mainly because the very trumped rights of right had lost its steam.
“We are clueless about how this number of crushes to end budget assessments will be done,” said sources, adding that the government would advertise the budget on June 2, after which virtual conversations were expected to continue.
Before the financial proposal 2025 becomes a financial action, all IMF conditions would be adjusted and fulfilled to avoid criticism during the budget approval process.
However, a chief government official confirmed that the tax would set the country’s direction in the next few years when they made last ditch efforts to convince the IMF to allow reduction in the payroll of the salary class.
“FBR’s tax collection target will be set to over RS14.1 trillion in the upcoming budget depending on the ability of the Finance Division to reduce its expenses proportionately.”
Defense budget distribution will only be an exception in the next budget as it will be horizontal to see the country’s needs.
Another official said the government had made agreements to generate commercial funding of $ 1 billion in June 2025 in the current financial year when the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had committed a $ 500 million grant. Due to this $ 500 million warranty, a consortium of Standard Chartered Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank is expected to generate commercial loan of $ 700 million.
The government has requested three other UAE-based business banks to generate $ 100 million each to collect a total of 1 billion loans in June 2025.
Meanwhile, the FBR on Thursday informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Financing that the IMF would not allow the return to the final tax regime (FTR) as the tax machinery had introduced the minimum tax regime (MTR) for exporters.
Another question that was brought up to the committee was that the local supplies with exporters were taxed while the imported goods were not taxed. FBR-HEY-UPS replied that the IMF could possibly ask for the removal of this distortion and asked FBR to bring imported goods for export purposes to the tax network.
During the meeting, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) presented a number of proposals for the upcoming national budget.
App adds: Meanwhile, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday confirmed the government’s obligation to the fast -paced institutional reforms along with macroeconomic stabilization and claimed that Pakistan was now firmly on the road to economic development after a period of improvement and stability.
“With Allah’s grace, Pakistan is now moving from economic stability to sustainable growth,” he said during his meeting with the IMF team.
The discussions focused on the implementation and progress of the ongoing IMF program in Pakistan. Both sides expressed satisfaction over the economic reforms made by the government and their incurred positive results.
Meanwhile, President of a Gas Supply and Consumption Meeting In the Country, Shehbaz called for further reforms in the gas sector to gradually reduce and eliminate the amount of circular debt through further reforms in the gas sector.
He was presented with a long -term comprehensive plan of gas supply and consumption in the country during the meeting. Shehbaz expressed satisfaction over the creation of different blocks to increase domestic gas production and discover new reserves.
He emphasized that reforms of the energy sector were the highest priority of the government. The prime minister was also informed of the financial stability of the gas sector, long -term planning and improving the management system.
