Pakistan’s finance minister hopeful of reaching IMF deal ‘within days’

KARACHI – Finance Minister Mifath Ismail has expressed hope for the revival of the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme within a couple of days.

Speaking with the media, Miftah said that the global lender expressed no objection over the government’s latest step of increment of employees and giving income tax exemption on 1.2 million income.

The PML-N leader assured that the income rebate of 1.2 million will be maintained and the coalition government will give relief to the masses by taxing the rich.

He added that the exemption for people earning up to Rs100,000 per month or Rs1.2 million per annum would not be withdrawn.

Miftah mentioned that the incumbent government is looking for new avenues to increase the burden on the well-heeled people, jack up rates for corporate sectors as well as allow the unconditional import of gold to bring it into the tax ambit.

He also mentioned changes in Finance Bill 2022-23 to raise the maximum tax for the elite class.