ISLAMABAD – The government and its allies decided to get the approval of the Supplementary Finance Bill 2023 from both the Senate and National Assembly sessions, paving the way to unlock the stalled IMF funds.
In today’s session, new taxes and bill for IMF program will be approved by the Parliament, PM Office confirmed in a statement. It also mentioned that the ‘austerity package’ to cut government spending was also in its final stages.
Sharif led government moved Parliament a day after President Dr Arif Alvi refused to give assent to government ordinance, seeking to impose hefty taxes to raise additional revenue as per the guidelines by the lender.
The government is apparently in a rush to slap new taxes in a bid to get the much-needed funds amid dilapidating foreign exchange reserves.
With the approval of the new bill, the government will rake billions with the increase of GST, an increase in excise duty on airline tickets, beverages, and a surge in withholding tax rates.
Pakistan facing tough task to impose hefty taxation as policy-level talks underway with IMF
Of late, the coalition government has already jacked up power tariffs to recover Rs237 billion more by June.
