ISLAMABAD
\nPlanning Minister Ahsan Iqbal revealed on Friday that Pakistan \u201cvirtually\u201d suffered an internal default during the PTI-led government in April 2022, saying the Ministry of Finance had said it had no money to release the final instalment of the development budget. He was referring to the last days of Imran Khan-led government, which was ousted from power via opposition\u2019s no-confidence motion on April 7, 2022.
\nSpeaking on Geo News programme \u201cGeo Pakistan\u201d, the federal minister said the country\u2019s economy has made a \u201cremarkable recovery\u201d since Imran\u2019s ouster and under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government. \u201cOn April 1, 2022, for the first time in Pakistan\u2019s history the Ministry of Finance raised its hands and said we will not release the final instalment of the development budget because we have no money,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cSo, virtually, an internal default happened in April 2022,\u201d he said, adding that people were then guessing Pakistan could also default externally within \u201c4\u20136 weeks\u201d. Iqbal cited what he described as improvements in key indicators, saying Fitch, Standard & Poor\u2019s and Moody\u2019s upgraded Pakistan\u2019s rating, while inflation that \u201cwas going up at the rate of 38%\u201d had \u201ccome down to 4%\u201d.
\nHe said if inflation had not been brought under control, it would have continued rising each month. He added that the economy, which was \u201cat zero\u201d, posted 3.7% growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year and claimed large-scale manufacturing was increasing. \u201cThe IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme is our programme up to 2027,\u201d he said.
\nHe said the government had taken a \u201cconscious decision\u201d in the budget to reduce duties in sectors that can enable exports and to \u201csomewhat\u201d liberalise imports for raw materials and machinery to raise export capacity.
\nHe said such steps typically lift imports first, but that machinery and raw-material imports would \u201cstart translating into exports\u201d in the coming quarters. On whether relief was reaching the public, Iqbal said taxes on the salaried class were imposed \u201cunder compulsion\u201d of the IMF and said tax filers had increased by \u201cmore than almost double\u201d, with further relief promised in the next budget.
\nCalling taxation a \u201clife and death\u201d issue, he said every income earner would have to pay tax \u201cwhether he is a trader, whether he is a landowner\u201d. He added that digitisation would help authorities match lifestyle and spending data with tax records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal revealed on Friday that Pakistan \u201cvirtually\u201d suffered an internal default during the PTI-led government in April 2022, saying the Ministry of Finance had said it had no money to release the final instalment of the development budget. He was referring to the last days of Imran Khan-led government, which was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n