International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that the review of the policy talks with Pakistan is expected to come within this week.
“I expect an agreement of the review to come within this week. So any day now,” said the global lender’s chief told Bloomberg on Wednesday while assuring the anchor that a deal was very “close”, as Pakistan inches closer to successful policy-level talks with the IMF.
“The Pakistani authorities and the minister of Finance deserve credit for, in a very difficult time, sticking to the programme that they had,” said the IMF chief.
She continued to say that the major issue in Pakistan was tax collection. “The country today collects 12% tax to GDP. We are saying [that] it has to be at least 15% to have the revenues, to sustain the functioning of your economy.”
“So, please, for the people in Pakistan that can pay taxes, collect it from them,” she added.
Meanwhile, officials privy to the ongoing talks between Pakistan and the IMF mission said that Islamabad has agreed to impose a 40% windfall tax on the profits of the banking sector under the global lender’s conditions in a bid to secure the second tranche for the staff-level agreement under the $3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA).
The IMF mission — led by Nathan Porter — and the Pakistani economic team have also completed discussions on all sectors, added the sources.
The Pakistani delegation was led by Caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar and comprised State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwan, and officials from the finance and energy ministries.
