Islamabad:
For the second tranche of 1 billion 10 million dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has started strict measures related to civil officers.
According to Express News, for the second tranche of 1.1 billion dollars, under 39 strict conditions, assets of civil officers and family will be disclosed, while tax amnesty, tax concessions, additional grants from the budget will not be given. Apart from this, an assessment report on governance and corruption will be issued.
According to the sources, foreign exchange reserves equal to 3 months import bill, public finance, right sizing, revenues should be met as per the target.
The IMF has demanded strict implementation of the benchmark and the points of this agreement have been brought to the fore by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the government must strictly implement 22 points to get the second tranche of $1.1 billion from the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility loan program.
The document revealed that there is a deadline of February for civil officers and their families to declare their assets, among other strict conditions, demanding no tax amnesty and no tax concessions.
According to the document, the conditions with the IMF include that no additional grants will be given from the budget, a report on governance and corruption will be issued, foreign exchange reserves will have to be brought up to 3 months of import bills by March 2025.
Public finance, right-sizing, revenues have to be met as per the target, other strict conditions include that the exchange rate in the open market and interbank market on business days should not differ by more than 1.25 percent, while the foreign exchange reserves of the central bank should not exceed 1.25 percent. 8.65 billion dollars by the end of the year.
Apart from this, the volume of currency swap should not exceed 2.75 billion dollars, the volume of government guarantees should not exceed 5600 billion rupees, the total amount under the Benazir Income Support Program should not exceed 599 billion rupees.
Other conditions include that the government will not borrow from the central bank, spending on health and education will be allocated Rs. A billion rupees tax will be collected.
According to the document, arrears in tax refunds should not exceed Rs 24 billion and power sector arrears should not exceed Rs 417 billion.
In the National Assembly Standing Committee Finance meeting, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb during a briefing on the country’s economy said that macroeconomic stability has come in the country’s economy during the last 14 months, there is a need to reduce the role of middlemen in order to reduce inflation in the country.
He said that the ECC meeting is preparing a strategy to reduce the role of middlemen, on a monthly basis the review committee reviewed the prices of food items.
The finance minister said that the current loan program from the IMF will be the last message for Pakistan, population control has become indispensable for reforms in taxation, energy sector, while climate issues, child stunting, the number of children out of schools are worrying.
The Finance Minister said that Pakistan and the World Bank are signing a ten-year country partnership framework, and the stock market has improved due to the improvement in the country’s economy.
