ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that the talks the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded “positively” and the government will have to impose Rs170 billion in taxes through a mini-budget in order to get the loan programme.
Addressing the media, the finance minister confirmed that the government had received the draft of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the global lender.
The finance minister this was an old agreement which had been suspended and delayed previously.
The senior PML-N leader said that the 10-day-long discussions with IMF were extensive covering the power, and gas sectors and the fiscal and monetary side.
The finance minister announced that new taxes worth Rs170 billion will be imposed and energy sector reforms will be implemented to restore the loan facility. He also added that the government was focusing on “minimising untargeted subsidies”.
The finance minister said that some of the reforms suggested by the IMF are in Pakistan’s favour.
“The government will stop the circular debt in the power sector and stop the circular debt in the gas sector from increasing,” said Dar.
Earlier today, the IMF issued a statement after ending talks with the Pakistani officials.
IMF mission chief Nathan Porter said that “considerable progress” was made during the talks with Pakistani officials on “policy measures to address domestic and external imbalances”.
He also thanked the authorities for the “constructive discussions”.
IMF issues statement after concluding 10-day talks with Pakistani officials
