Pakistan’s progress on the $7 billion loan package was assessed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan during their second day of talks at the Ministry of Finance.
Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Finance and Revenue Minister, Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik, the governor of the State Bank, and the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) welcomed the IMF delegation, headed by mission commander Nathan Porter.
The discussion focused on the advancements made thus far in the execution of Pakistan’s $7 billion loan package.
Pakistan’s accomplishments in reaching the majority of the program’s goals for the first quarter of the current fiscal year were reported to the IMF delegation by Finance Minister Aurangzeb. He promised to pursue changes aimed at promoting economic stability and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to finishing the IMF program.
According to sources from the Finance Ministry, the IMF mission would stay in Pakistan until November 15 in order to carry out additional assessments.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) group landed in Pakistan on Monday and began talking about the country’s fiscal performance with representatives of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the team, headed by the chairman of the FBR, provided the IMF with a briefing on tax collection and revenue numbers.
Between July and September, tax income amounted to Rs2,625 billion, which covered 96.6% of the first three months’ objective, according to FBR officials. Nevertheless, a shortfall of Rs190 billion was incurred in fulfilling the entire tax objective during the four-month period from July to October.
In September, FBR raised an extra Rs8 billion, exceeding the Rs1,098 billion objective, the IMF delegation was told.
Officials told the IMF delegation that over 5.2 million people filed income tax returns this year, generating over Rs132 billion in revenue, a 76% increase over the previous year. Additionally, during the first quarter, the FBR collected Rs 10 billion in taxes from shops.
