ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government has given the pretext of disbanding the FBR in the name of IMF demands to appease the concerned powerful quarters, but the fund’s technical team has not yet made any specific recommendations.
Top government sources confirmed to The News that Caretaker Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is planning to make all possible efforts this week to get the federal cabinet’s approval for the restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) before the next general elections. are ready for
The military establishment and the Prime Minister’s Office have been informed that the bifurcation of the FBR into two institutions is part of the terms of the IMF program and hence approval of the proposed reform plan is essential.
The IMF’s engagement with the Government of Pakistan presented a very different picture as nothing specific as part of the conditionality under the ongoing $3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA) program. Then an IMF technical team visited Pakistan last December 2023 to discuss the future roadmap with the tax administration and the government of Pakistan.
In preliminary recommendations, the IMF noted that there is no internationally agreed view on whether customs and tax functions should be brought under one authority.
The IMF’s technical team made its initial recommendations after the caretaker finance minister made a presentation to them that two options were being considered, either setting up a National Tax Agency or abolishing the FBR and merging the two agencies into a federal board. of Inland Revenue and Federal Board of Customs should be created.
The IMF team left the decision to the government of Pakistan but it is now being suggested that the partition is an IMF demand which is not true.
A query was sent to the spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance but no response was received till the filing of the report.
