ISLAMABAD
\nPakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have mutually agreed to a number of points for the completion of ninth review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), entitling Pakistan to a 1.2 billion dollars tranche.
\nThis was stated by Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar at a news conference in Islamabad on Friday after conclusion of talks with the IMF Mission that was on a visit to Pakistan.
\nSharing broad contours of the understanding reached with the IMF, the Finance Minister said taxation measures of one hundred and seventy billion rupees will be taken as opposed to the rumours of seven hundred to eight billion rupees.
\n\u201cGood news is [that] as per their commitment, the team has gone according to their plan. As per their commitment, we have received MEFP. The draft is with us, we will study it and from Monday we will engage in virtual discussion with the fund,\u201d Dar said.
\nOnce completed and approved by the IMF Executive Board, Pakistan would receive the next tranche of SDR 894 million ($1.2 billion), the finance minister said.
\nThe minister said, the ten-day dialogue with IMF concluded positively and there was no ambiguity on anything. The final round was held on Thursday during which \u201cwe mutually agreed and finalized all the things\u201d.
\nHe said there was mutual understanding to complete the programme, for the second time in the country\u2019s history, adding the government was committed to fulfill its sovereign commitments.
\nThe minister said the team had also a courtesy zoom meeting with Prime Minister, wherein the PM said that the things agreed by the finance team would be implemented.
\nTalking about the outcomes of the negotiations, the minister said the policy package with IMF included Rs 170 billion fiscal measures. He said it was agreed to generate additional Rs 170 billion new taxes, however, added the government would not impose any such taxes that would directly impact the common man. He said, for imposing new taxes, a new finance bill may be presented in the parliament.
\nHe said that it was agreed to increase the financial volume of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) by Rs40 billion and take it from the existing Rs 360 billion to Rs 400 billion to provide relief to the commoners.
\nDar said that the government was committed to reform the energy sector to reduce the losses. He said the cost of electricity generation was Rs30,000 billion whereas recovery was just Rs18,000 billion, which results in huge losses. He said the government prioritized implementing energy reform and do away with untargeted subsidies.
\nThe finance minister said the government was also committed to zero debt in the gas sector to rationalize the sector. He that the government also pursued the agenda for Privatization to stop the bleeding of resources.
\nTo a question, he expressed the hope that the government would receive payment from friendly countries as per their commitments on the international forum.
\nDar said that because of the bad policies of the Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf government, a credibility gap developed between Pakistan and IMF. He said that the PTI government was responsible for the current economic situation.
\nEarlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a statement said, considerable progress was made on policy measures to address domestic and external imbalances. It said virtual discussions would continue in the coming days to finalize the implementation details of these policies.
\nThe statement said, the IMF mission led by Nathan Porter visited Islamabad during January 31 \u2013 February 9 to hold discussions under the ninth review of the authorities\u2019 program supported by IMF\u2019s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement.
\n\u201cThe IMF team welcomes the Prime Minister\u2019s commitment to implement policies needed to safeguard macroeconomic stability and thanks the authorities for the constructive discussions,\u201d Porter said in a statement.
\nHe said key priorities include strengthening the fiscal position with permanent revenue measures and reduction in untargeted subsidies, while scaling up social protection to help the most vulnerable and those affected by the floods; allowing the exchange rate to be market determined to gradually eliminate the foreign exchange shortage; and enhancing energy provision by preventing further accumulation of circular debt and ensuring the viability of the energy sector.
\n\u201cThe timely and decisive implementation of these policies along with resolute financial support from official partners are critical for Pakistan to successfully regain macroeconomic stability and advance its sustainable development,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have mutually agreed to a number of points for the completion of ninth review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), entitling Pakistan to a 1.2 billion dollars tranche. This was stated by Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar at a news conference in Islamabad on Friday after conclusion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[186,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-312989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-imf","9":"tag-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n