Mobilising domestic tax revenue is key element of IMF’s Pakistan programme: spokesperson – Business

International Monetary Fund (IMF) spokesman Gerry Rice said Thursday that one of the key elements of the IMF program in Pakistan was the need to mobilize internal tax revenues to finance "much needed" social and development spending by time that places debt in a "company" downward trend ".

The IMF executive board on July 3 approved a $ 6 billion rescue package for Pakistan.

While addressing a press conference in Washington, in response to a question about whether Pakistan could be advised to reduce subsidies and development costs to keep the primary deficit online, Rice said IMF Managing Director David Lipton had also emphasized the need to mobilize national taxes. income in a previous meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Read: "Pakistan needs to mobilize tax revenue, reduce debt": IMF interim director after meeting with prime minister

"Let me add that we expect an IMF team to be in Pakistan in the next few days, including our director for that area, Jihad Azur will be there," Rice added.

On September 6, the Ministry of Finance issued a statement in which they said there had been misunderstandings in the media about scheduled visits by the IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia, Jihad Azour, and a technical team during the next two weeks.

He had said that the ministry would meet next week with Azour and inform him of the results achieved so far. "However, this is not an IMF review mission as some media segments have suggested."

Azour's visit was scheduled for September, shortly after the completion of the Extended Fund program.

The government also said its reform agenda signed with the IMF was on track and that progress so far in almost all performance and structural parameters for the first quarter of the current fiscal year was very encouraging with a strong indication that all would be met. the objectives. .

According to reports, the Ministry of Finance was forced to issue the statement after there were certain media reports about the renegotiation of the program due to significant fiscal delays at the conclusion of fiscal year 2018-19. The ministry said it believed that "the objectives of the IMF program are ambitious, there is no need to renegotiate."

The IMF technical level talks are expected to take place at a later stage after the end of the first quarter of the year and provide both teams with the opportunity to review the progress made to date, the ministry added.