Finance Minister Dar says goodbye to IMF
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar has termed the “undemocratic and unfair” idea of making a new government commit to IMF for a new deal.
In other words, he said “Goodbye” to the IMF, leaving the new deal to the government which comes to power after the upcoming elections.
Dar said, “We should be clear that the ongoing suspended program, if it completes or not, will end on June 30. The coalition government has ”run and ruined” the country without IMF since April last year.
Nevertheless, one thing that we must appreciate is that the government has saved the country from default without IMF support and with the help of China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
As elections are approaching this year after the completion of the National Assembly’s tenure in August, the coalition government has decided to leave the new IMF deal to the new government.
Ishaq Dar stated this during his press conference while launching the new economic survey.
File photo of finance minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar who said goodbye to IMF, leaving the new deal to the new government.
Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar was optimistic that Pakistan will able to secure the ninth review, which IMF has kept pending since last year before June 30.
He said the government has done hard work for the IMF deal while the people faced its brunt after the withdrawal of subsidies.
Dar further said, “Pakistan has done more than its due work and has been sharing everything for seven months.”
He assured the journalists that he would never support an idea wherein this government makes a “commitment with the IMF for a post-election scenario”.
Meanwhile, he also said that the government had shared its budget with the IMF to unlock the ninth review as there are “no issues in the numbers”.
He pointed out that under the IMF’s requirements, the government would have to do away with subsidies on energy and other sectors. The government would also have to allow the free float of the rupee against the US dollar, further raise taxes/duties, and restrict imports.
Dar presents the new budget for 2023-24 in Parliament
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar is presenting the new budget for 2023-24 in the National Assembly with an outlay of Rs 14.5 trillion.
In the new budget, the government has projected a fiscal deficit of 7.7% while the tax collection target will be around Rs 9.2 trillion. Non-tax revenue target will be Rs2.80 trillion in the new budget for 2023-24.
Meanwhile, the proposed size of subsidies is Rs1.3 trillion. A major portion of the subsidy will go to the power sector _ about 976 billion rupees.
For the defense budget, the government has proposed 1.8 trillion rupees while 7.30 trillion will be utilized for the payment of markup on loans in 2023-24.
