ISLAMABAD – The federal government has introduced several taxes on demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and reports of further taxation on agriculture, and construction sectors prompted a response from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
In his address to National Assembly, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar assured the lower house of parliament that government has no plans to impose new taxes on agricultural and construction sectors as part of the Stand-by Arrangement (SBA).
Dar reiterated his pledge to apprise parliament about all conditions discussed with IMF and added that copies of documents signed with the global lender are available in the National Assembly’s library.
Emphasizing transparency, the country’s finance chief said all documents have also been made available on the Finance Ministry’s website. He further lamented the non-implementation of conditions under the previous government, which according to PML-N stalwart caused trouble for the incumbent setup.
Minister said the coalition government is set to leave Pakistan’s reserves in recovering and improving state. The close aide of PML-N chief said a dozen publications reported about taxes on construction and agriculture sectors and called it the result of serious misunderstanding.
Pakistan reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over $3bn (£2.4bn) of funding in late June. The deal comes after an eight-month delay, as the crisis-hit nation is facing its worst economic crisis in the last two years.
IMF seeks plan to expand tax base, cites real estate and agri sectors
