ISLAMABAD: Sources told on Wednesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has “asked” Pakistan to make up for a shortfall in income in the next fiscal quarter.
“There is no room for revenue shortfall,” IMF delegation led by Nathan Porter reportedly told Pakistan during the talks to unlock $1 billion loan tranche of $7bln loan programme.
Sources say that Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) talked at length about important economic and financial issues during the talks.
The IMF team met with officials from the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for long periods of time to talk about a wide range of issues, such as Islamic banking reforms, refinancing schemes, and the transition to development finance.
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The IMF delegation pushed for the Bank Resolution Framework to be put into action so that the banking industry would be strengthened and financial risks would go down.
The sources also claimed that discussions included the external sector review and the foreign exchange market’s developments.
When the government talked to the IMF about monetary policy, the IMF stressed how important it was to take quick steps to cut spending.
The sources also said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was told to improve plans for better tax collection and better handle compliance risk.
The delegation also learned about efforts to improve the fairness of the tax system, particularly for large retailers in major cities. address high-risk taxovernment in Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore to get back high-risk cases. They made sure that these recoveries would help close the income gap.
As both groups work to finalize Pakistan’s economic plan for the next few months, more talks are likely to happen.
