Pakistan agrees on Rs 215 billion taxes to complete 9th IMF’s pending review: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday informed the National Assembly that Pakistan had agreed on Rs 215 billion taxes after three-day parleys with the officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to complete the 9th review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), pending due to the country’s external financing gap.
“As a result of the talks with IMF, for the fiscal year 2023-24, the final taxes of only Rs 215 have been agreed, ensuring that it will not burden the poor and middle segments of the society,” he said while winding-up general discussion on the budget for the year 2023-24.
Similarly, he said Pakistan would bring down the running expenditure by Rs 85 billion, which would have no impact on the proposed development budget, the raise in salaries and pensions of the federal government employees.
He said Pakistan held talks with the IMF with complete sincerity and assured the House that once the things with the international lender were settled; all details would be made public by placing the agreement on the official website of the Ministry of Finance.
Resultantly, he said the proposed tax collection target of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had been increased from Rs 9200 billion to Rs 9415 billion, with the provincial share going up from Rs5276 billion to Rs 5390 billion, the federal government total expenditure estimate from Rs 14460 billion to Rs 14480 billion and pension estimate from Rs 761 billion to Rs 801 billion.
Similarly, he said the subsidy estimate would be at Rs 1064 billion and grants at Rs 1405 billion, adding as a result of all these measures, the overall budget deficit would come down with a cushion of Rs 300 billion [Rs 215 billion taxes and Rs85 billion reduction in running expenditures]. – APP