ISLAMABAD: Following the advice of President Dr. Arif Alvi, the federal government has decided to submit the ‘Money Budget Ordinance’ to the Parliament for approval as it seeks to recover $1.1 billion in outstanding debt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). f) Willing to meet the prerequisites of
Pakistan and the IMF have started virtual talks in Islamabad last week after 10 days of face-to-face talks on how to run the country ended without an agreement.
Senior finance ministry officials told JEE News that the bill will be tabled in the National Assembly tomorrow and then in the Senate, after which both houses will refer the matter to their respective finance committees for further discussion.
Once the bill is approved by both houses, it will be sent to the President for assent, officials said, adding that the move would meet all the conditions of the IMF program.
“Subsequently, the IMF and Pakistan will sign the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP)”, the officials said and added, “Following this, the IMF Executive Board will visit Pakistan.” On the recommendation of its team, the Commission will approve the issuance of the installment.
After securing the loan from the IMF, Pakistan is expecting about $5 billion from friendly countries China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and other multilateral lenders, namely the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). from AIIB).
This development took place after Federal Finance Minister and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar met with Dr. Alvi in the President’s House.
A statement issued by the Presidency said that the President advised that it would be more appropriate to take the Parliament into confidence on this important matter and convene an immediate session so that the bill can be enacted without delay.
In the meeting, the Finance Minister briefed the President on the progress in the government’s negotiations with the IMF.
Dar told Dr. Alvi that the government wanted to raise additional revenue by implementing the said ordinance. He also talked about all the agreed methods with the International Monetary Fund.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, called on President Dr. Arif Alvi today and apprised him about the progress in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and that all modalities have been agreed upon. pic.twitter.com/Hpn2xq740P
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) February 14, 2023
The finance minister said on February 10 that negotiations with the IMF had ended “positively”, however, the government would have to tax Rs 170 billion through the mini-budget to revive the lending programme.
Addressing the media hours after the IMF released its statement on talks with Pakistan, Dar confirmed that Islamabad had received the draft MEFP from the Washington-based lender.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alvi appreciated the efforts of the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in negotiating an agreement with the IMF and also assured that the state of Pakistan would stick to its commitments to the IMF.
During his press conference last week, the finance minister also said that the 10-day long talks covered power, gas sectors as well as fiscal and monetary aspects.
“The State Bank Governor and officials from various departments and ministries participated in the talks,” Dar added.
Sharing the broad perspective of the accord reached with the IMF, he had said that tax measures worth Rs 170 billion would be implemented as opposed to the rumored Rs 700-800 billion.
The country’s economy is in dire straits, suffering from a balance of payments crisis as it tries to service high levels of external debt amid political chaos and deteriorating security.
Inflation has risen, the rupee has depreciated and the country can no longer afford imports, leading to a sharp decline in industry.
The IMF is demanding that the nuclear-armed country broaden its narrow tax base, end tax breaks for the export sector, and artificially lower petrol, electricity and gas prices to help low-income families. Increase in
Prime Minister Shehbaz had earlier described the terms of the $1.1 billion loan tranche as “beyond imagination”.
