World Bank huge loan to Pakistan for raising tax to GDP ratio and widening tax net

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank’s (WB) loan of $400 million for FBR will targetraising the tax-to-GDP ratio to 17 percent by financial year 2023-24 andwidening the tax net from the current 1.2 million to at least 3.5 millionactive taxpayers.

A World Bank team led by Vice-President for Equitable Growth, Finance andInstitutions (EFI) Ceyla Pazarbasioglu on Wednesday informed FinanceAdviser Hafeez Shaikh that the under-consideration project will assist insimplifying the tax regime and strengthening tax and customs administration.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that Pakistan valued the financial andtechnical support provided by the World Bank for the institutional reformsand economic development of the country.

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The WB team also discussed the Resilient Institutions StrengtheningProgramme (Rise) which includes an integrated debt management office in theFinance Division.