Under the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), new taxes worth Rs170 billion will have to be imposed, for which a mini-budget will have to be introduced, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced Friday.
Dar was addressing a press conference after an IMF mission left Pakistan without signing a staff-level agreement, which the country was relying on to revive its failing economy.
The finance czar’s address came shortly after the IMF issued a brief statement on its talks with Pakistan, which said that virtual talks would continue to finalise the implementation of key priorities.
Despite a failure in securing a deal with the IMF, the finance minister claimed the parleys with the global lender ended “positively”.
He confirmed that the government had received the draft of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the global lender which relates to the completion of the ninth review of a $7 billion loan programme.
“I am confirming that the MEFP draft has been received by us at 9am today,” he said.
The draft MEFP is a prerequisite to pave the way towards striking a staff-level agreement. It may be considered as the crux of decisions negotiated between Pakistan and the Fund because it includes policy actions and structural benchmarks the two sides agreed on.
