An international team of the monetary fund (IMF) will start their visit to Pakistan tomorrow (Friday) to help prepare the federal budget for the next fiscal 2025-2026.
According to sources, the IMF delegation will keep discussions with Pakistani officials concerning future tax measures, income strategies and expenditure control. The discussions will also cover the allocation of development spending in the next budget.
The 2010-26 federal budget should be presented the first week of June. The IMF team will collaborate with the Pakistani authorities to finalize budgetary proposals.
The Ministry of Finance estimated a significant increase in tax collections by the Federal Board of Return (FBR), setting the income target for the next financial year at 15,270 billion rupees.
This marks an increase in RS2 300 billion compared to the current financial year.
During the previous year, the FBR collected 9,311 billion tax rupees. For the financial year 20125-26, the collection of direct taxes is projected at 6,570 billion rupees, compared to the objective of the year in the process of 5,512 billion rupees.
EATRLIER, the federal government has fulfilled another Condition of the IMF and approved the creation of offices for the director general of special measures and two administrators at the FBR headquarters for coordination with field training to combat tax evasion.
The notification has also mentioned that these measures will help to eliminate complexities which lead to a decrease in income and eliminate unnecessary obstacles in the tax collection process.
Last month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that talks between Pakistan and the IMF for more than a billion dollars in the tranche remained successful.
The Minister of Finance made the declaration at a meeting in the Prime Minister’s House, which Shehbaz Sharif presided over to hear the grievances of the business world, according to government sources.
Shehbaz Sharif asked his Minister of Finance if the IMF has given the memorandum for economic and financial policies (MEFP) in Pakistan – all the political documents that define the conditions of the loan tranche.
Everything is in order and the IMF would publish the declaration on Saturday, Aurangzeb would have said to the Prime Minister in the presence of the business world.
