June 15, 2023 (MLN): The 9th review of the IMF program will be completed this month, the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar assured while talking to journalists on Thursday.
“Our talks with the IMF have not concluded yet. Thus, in my view imf program has not ended yet,” he added.
Expressing concerns about the ongoing situation, he stated, “We are a victim of geopolitics and during the past, 30 years Pakistan never dealt with IMF in such a fashion.”
“I am sad that things turn out to be this way,” he noted.
Talking about IMF’s conditions, he said that almost all the conditions have been fulfilled including the foreign exchange market which is working freely.
He further assured that there is no issue with payments till June 30. “We are fully prepared to make timely payments till June 30.”
On the other hand, IMF has raised serious concerns over the draft budget for FY24 saying that it has missed an opportunity to broaden the tax base in a more progressive way.
“The new tax amnesty runs against the program’s conditionality and governance agenda and creates a damaging precedent,” Esther Perez Ruiz, the IMF’s resident representative for Pakistan said on Thursday.
Later on the same day, Moody’s indicated that budget FY24 lacks major revenue-raising and spending-containment measures to alleviate intense government liquidity pressures.
