Ishaq Dar on a collision course with IMF
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar seems to be on a collision course with the International Monetary Fund. He also blamed the IMF for the ongoing political instability in Pakistan.
Dar said, “The IMF is one of the main contributors and it is part of political instability in Pakistan.”
To a question about what would happen if the IMF did not approve the 9th review, Dar said it would be unfair if that happened.
Finance Minister, nonetheless, was optimistic that the ninth review would conclude within this month. Dar urged the Pakistani media to highlight the unreasonable demands of the IMF.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said, “The government is working on a Plan B if the IMF said ‘absolutely not’ to the resumption of pending loan for Pakistan.
He said, “The Plan B is always in place which is self-reliance. We cannot talk about it much in public. But, Insha’Allah, Pakistan will not default.”
For the past many months, the government has been begging for the release of a delayed tranche from the IMF.
However, the IMF people are using delaying tactics and coming up with new demands. This tendency has put on hold the revival of the IMF loans for Pakistan.
Moreover, Dar further said that the coalition government was in touch with friendly countries for debt restructuring.
Finance Minister came down hard on the IMF for delaying the 9th review. He said the 9th had been overdue and should have been completed in February this year.
Dar felt uneasy when questioned whether or not the IMF trusted him. He replied that the IMF had been ‘unfair to Pakistan’.
New Tax Measures for 2023-24
The federal government has proposed some new tax measures in the budget which will generate around 900 billion rupees in additional revenue in 2023-24.
The federal government has announced 223 billion rupees in new tax measures for 2023-24.
In Feb 2023, the government imposed 170 billion rupees in taxes through the mini-budget. However, in the 2023-24 budget, the impact of the mini-budget will mop up around Rs660 billion in 2023-24.
