ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance has started preparing for important talks with the IMF review mission next week and a formal invitation will be sent to the Washington creditor immediately after the formation and swearing in of the federal cabinet.
Top government sources confirmed to The News that the IMF is also waiting to receive a formal invitation from Islamabad and it is likely soon after the formation of the cabinet.
The IMF team will arrive in Pakistan to begin negotiations for the completion of the second review of the $3 billion standby agreement, while Pakistan has also applied for a fresh deal of extended fund facility for 36 months. has given
The future EFF program has not yet been negotiated or finalized, but Islamabad will consider the possibility of strengthening the EFF so that the scope of financing will range from $6 billion to $8 billion. Can be extended.
The first and biggest challenge that will be faced by the future Vice-Azam is to collect the FBR’s tax collection target of Rs 890 billion by March 2024. If there is a shortfall by March 2024, the IMF may come up with its own remedy, which will include additional tax measures that will be implemented for the remainder of the current fiscal year.
Keeping in view the seriousness of this challenging task, Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister House to get a thorough briefing from the FBR team on the roadmap for overhauling the future taxation system.
The FBR has so far collected Rs 5.82 billion for the first 8 months of the next financial year but has a revenue shortfall of Rs 33 billion in February 2024 alone.
The FBR has to collect Rs 3.58 trillion in the four-month period from March to June to meet the target of Rs 9.415 trillion by June 30, 2024.
In March 2024, the monthly target was reduced to Rs 890 billion, which has to be completed now to achieve the target set by the IMF from January to March 2024. The IMF has already taken 8 contingency measures which the FBR will take to bridge the revenue gap if it falls short of the monthly target.
