The government on Saturday agreed to introduce a number of changes to its budget, confirmed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the floor of the National Assembly here.
Dar told the House that Pakistan and the IMF had detailed negotiations as a last effort to complete the pending review.
He added that for the fiscal year starting next month, the government will raise a further Rs215 billion in new tax and cut Rs85 billion in spending, as well as a number of other measures to shrink the fiscal deficit, the financial czar added.
The development came a day after Premier Shehbaz Sharif had met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Global Financing Summit in Paris.
About a week remains before the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreed in 2019 expires on June 30.
Under the $6.5 billion facility’s ninth review, negotiated earlier this year, Pakistan has been trying to secure $1.1 billion of funding stalled since November.
Giving details, Dar said: “Pakistan has agreed on Rs215 billion taxes after three-day parleys with the officials of the IMF to complete the 9th review under the EFF, pending due to the country’s external financing gap.”
