Under the deal with the IMF, taxes of 170 billion will have to be imposed, Finance Minister

Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that an agreement has been reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to levy a new tax of 170 billion rupees.

Talking to the media in Islamabad on Friday morning, Finance Minister said that the PDM government is fulfilling the agreement that Imran Khan made with the IMF during his government, and implementing the agreement made by the state.

He said that this is an old agreement which was suspended, and it was also delayed, you should keep in mind the background of who made this agreement and when this agreement was made.

He said that our government is trying to implement this agreement, and we are doing our best to implement it.

The finance minister added that the talks with our IMF mission continued for 10 days during which the power sector, financial sector and other important sectors were discussed and discussed.

Ishaq Dar said that we had completed the negotiations with the IMF on all the important issues by noon yesterday, later a zoom meeting of the IMF delegation was also arranged with the Prime Minister, and the matters were decided during the meeting. was discussed and the Prime Minister said that we will fulfil our commitment.

The finance minister said that the draft Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies (MEFP) has been provided to us by the IMF at 9 am today, which we will review and then we will have a virtual meeting with them on Monday. There will be a meeting, and we will take it forward, the process will take a few more days, and after that, the staff-level agreement will be done.

He said that there are some sectors which are in Pakistan’s own interest to reform, we cannot tolerate that many sectors of the country continue to run at a loss in the same way, the economy continues to run under the same wrong policies, in the last 5 years.

Meanwhile, we have moved it from the 24th largest economy to the 47th, he added.

Dar said that the country’s debts have increased by 70%, due to failed policies, there has been a storm of inflation, interest rates have skyrocketed, and debt servicing has reached close to 5000 billion, and the people who are responsible for this are responsible. Run the wrong way.

He said that now we need to fix this situation, the cost of the power plant is 3 thousand billion rupees while the recovery is only 1800 billion, and due to this the revolving debt increases, so we have to make reforms. These steps will be painful for us but we have to do them.

The finance minister said that we had reformed in 2013, we are still ready to reform, the negotiations with the IMF delegation were fruitful, and all matters are clear and clear, and there is no ambiguity. Will try to make Pakistan complete the IMF program for the second time in history.

The Federal Finance Minister said that an agreement has been reached with the IMF to levy a new tax of 170 billion rupees. will be collected during

He said that he will implement the planned reforms in the energy sector, stop the increasing deficit in the gas sector and the energy sector, minimize these targeted subsidies, and reduce the circular debt in the petroleum sector as well.

He said that the target of the petroleum development levy has been achieved while the petroleum development levy on diesel is currently Rs 40 per litre which will be increased to Rs 50. It will be increased by Rs 5 on March 1 and April 1. will be fulfilled.

He said that the Prime Minister has assured the IMF of the implementation of the agreement, and Pakistan will complete the IMF program.

The Federal Finance Minister said that the budget of the Benazir Income Support Program will be increased from 360 billion rupees to 400 billion rupees to provide relief to the poor section of the country.

Ishaq Dar said that a Money Finance Ordinance will have to be introduced to impose new taxes.

He said that the data on the increase in electricity rates will be released but the burden cannot be placed on the lifeline consumers who consume up to 300 units of electricity.

In response to a question, he said that the IMF does not have credibility, and the reason for this is the previous government, there is a lack of trust. So it was reversed, this move did a lot of damage to Pakistan’s reputation.

He said that the recent negotiations with the IMF, had a very negative effect, he was not confident that we would follow through on our commitment or not. (N) If the government has made a promise and not fulfilled it, you should not agree to what you cannot fulfil, you should commit to what you can fulfil and we have done the same. What is it?

The Finance Minister said that those who are defaming Pakistan by saying that the country has defaulted, explain to them, if the Prime Minister goes to other countries and says that we are a corrupt country, then some countries will invest. , everyone should avoid irresponsible statements.

Talking about the declining situation of foreign exchange reserves, the finance minister said that the promises made to friendly countries will be fulfilled and dollars will be received, we have also spent 414 million dollars on foreign reserves, so there is no need to worry about it’s nothing.