Loan talks between Pakistan and IMF conclude

The five-day loan talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have concluded and now the visiting delegation led by Nathan Porter will return home tonight. 

According to reports, Pakistan has convinced IMF about the provincial surplus budget figures and Sindh has been directed to do legislation on agriculture tax as soon as possible. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has completed homework for collection of agriculture tax.

IMF has stressed that Pakistan should start collecting agriculture tax from January 2025. Moreover, consultants will be hired for implementation of the provincial financial agreement. The government has assured IMF of making arrangements for external financing. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been directed to expedite the efforts to achieve the target of Rs12,970 billion tax collection. 

The Finance Ministry earlier on Friday presented revised figures of the provincial surplus to the international lender. 

IMF accepted the revised figures of the provincial surplus. The Finance Ministry says the Punjab government has given a surplus budget of Rs40 billion in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year. The Punjab government has marked Rs630 billion as surplus budget for the financial year 2024-25. The IMF has agreed to the Punjab government\s surplus budget. 

In line with the revised surplus figures agreed by the Punjab government with the IMF, the provincial government has achieved the target of Rs360 billion surplus budget compared to the set target of Rs342 billion.