July 25, 2022 (MLN): Finance Minister on Monday said that Pakistan is expected to receive the next tranche of IMF by end of August after IMF's board meeting on Aug 24.
In an exclusive talk with Radio Pakistan's correspondent Zahid Hameed, he said four to five billion dollars are also expected from the friendly countries. He said one friendly country is ready for immediate investment in the country.
He further said that the federal cabinet has approved a law to pave way for this investment. Matters pertaining to the oil and gas deferred payment are also likely to be finalized with the friendly countries in a week time.
Yet to another question, the finance minister said a lot is being done to bring improvement in the power sector. He regretted that the previous government neither made any investment to improve the electricity transmission system nor timely completed the power generation plants.
Responding to a question, Finance Minister said a lot is being done to bring improvement in the power sector. He said the government will support the farmers and the poor consumers to convert to solar in order to save them from electricity bills.
He said that the economy will be put on a development trajectory and the issue of price-hike to be controlled in the next few months. He was confident that the economic targets set for the current fiscal year will be achieved as a result of better decision-making by the present government.
With regards to exports, he said increasing exports could be challenging in view of the looming recession in the West.
“We have to put in more effort to bolster our exports”, he added.
He rejected the impression created by some quarters of the society that the country's remittances, exports and tax collection witnessed a decrease in recent months, adding that there had been record remittances in the month of May whilst the FBR also achieved its targets in the period between April and June this year.
Miftah Ismail said we have set a target of enhancing the revenue by 35% during the current fiscal year. He said that the FBR will collect Rs7500 billion while Rs800bn will be collected as a levy.
When asked about the rupee depreciation, the finance minister expressed the confidence that the pressure on it will reduce in the next week as the government has succeeded to reduce imports.
Pakistan currently stands in a position where its new imports are less than exports and remittances, he said.
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