ISLAMABAD, Nov 13 (NNI): Ministry of Finance held talks with visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team and on the occasion, officials briefed IMF mission about economic recovery plan and local debt.
The official of Ministry of Finance claimed that IMF had raised no objection on local debt as the government was gradually reducing local debt.
The officials assured IMF team that the government was extending the repayment period of local loans. The IMF had required of the government that the average loan repayment period should be increased.
The IMF mission was also briefed on gross financing and debt maturity. FBR officials gave a detailed briefing on government-wide digitization to the IMF mission. A briefing was also given on the improvement in revenue collection after artificial intelligence initiatives.
Meanwhile, the officials also briefed the visitors about the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
Sources said that the officials have informed the Fund that during the first four months of the ongoing Financial Year (FY), despite financial difficulties, timely provision of aid to the deserving people has been ensured.
Sources have further said that the IMF officials are satisfied with the government’s briefing.
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) shared its detailed tax collection plan with visiting to IMF official in Islamabad on Wednesday.
FBR team assured IMF team that during the current fiscal year it will not revise tax collection targets and will achieve its Rs12,013 billion revenue targets at all cost.
Moreover, FBR also promised international lender’s visiting team that it will not bring mini budget or announced further taxes for meeting of its revenue targets.
FBR claimed that during current fiscal year, it will achieve 8.8 percent tax collection of the GDP. Tax collection body has collected 10.5% tax revenue of GDP in four months of the financial year.
From July to October, FBR said the tax collection decreased due to the decrease in inflation. In the second half of the financial year, the economic activities are showing an increase and tax collections will increase as economic activities was increasing. NNI
