ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that the talks theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded “positively” and the governmentwill have to impose Rs170 billion in taxes through a mini-budget in orderto get the loan programme.
Addressing the media, the finance minister confirmed that the governmenthad 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 anddelayed previously.
The senior PML-N leader said that the 10-day-long discussions with IMF wereextensive covering the power, and gas sectors and the fiscal and monetaryside.
The finance minister announced that new taxes worth Rs170 billion will beimposed and energy sector reforms will be implemented to restore the loanfacility. He also added that the government was focusing on “minimisinguntargeted subsidies”.
The finance minister said that some of the reforms suggested by the IMF arein Pakistan’s favour.
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“The government will stop the circular debt in the power sector and stopthe circular debt in the gas sector from increasing,” said Dar.
Earlier today, the IMF issued a statement after ending talks with thePakistani officials.
IMF mission chief Nathan Porter said that “considerable progress” was madeduring the talks with Pakistani officials on “policy measures to addressdomestic and external imbalances”.
He also thanked the authorities for the “constructive discussions”.
