ISLAMABAD, Feb 20 (Alliance News): The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that if Pakistan wants to improve the country’s economy, it has to ensure that high income earners pay taxes and subsidies go only to the poor.
Speaking to the German broadcasting organization Deutsche Welle on the occasion of the Munich Security Conference, Kristia Lena Georgieva,, said that my heart is with the people of Pakistan, they have been devastated by the floods that have killed one-third of the country’s population.
He said that we are calling for steps to be taken to enable Pakistan to function as a country, and not go to a dangerous situation where it needs debt restructuring.
“I want to emphasize on 2 things, number one is tax revenue, people who earn good money in public and private sector need to contribute to the economy, second is subsidies only to the needy,” he said. People should meet.
The Managing Director said that the IMF is very clear that the poor should be protected in Pakistan, it should not be that the rich should benefit from the subsidy, the poor should benefit from it.
This statement of the head of the IMF has come at a time when the delegation of the IMF returned without reaching any conclusion after 10 days of talks with the Pakistani authorities in the beginning of this month. It was agreed to continue, Pakistan, suffering from severe economic crisis, is in dire need of funds.
After agreeing to the ninth review from the IMF, the revival of the program is likely to release a $1.1 billion tranche to Pakistan out of the $6.5 billion program that was signed in June 2019.
With foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan falling to around $3 billion, barely enough to cover 3 weeks worth of imports, the resumption of the IMF program has also opened up other avenues of funding for Pakistan. will go.
The government is racing against time to implement tax measures and reach an agreement with the IMF.
Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented the Finance Supplementary Bill 2023 in both the National Assembly and the Senate, proposing measures to raise an additional Rs 170 billion to meet the IMF’s final pre-condition.
The IMF has given Pakistan a deadline of March 1 to implement all the measures, but the bulk of the tax measures worth Rs 115 billion had already been implemented by SROs since February 14.