Observer Report
Karachi
International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said with the achievements of all the performance criteria set for the first quarter the fund’s bailout program now moves to the structural reforms to get the country out of boom and bust cycle.
“We see that the authorities remain strongly committed to all the objectives of the programme. We are now at the stage in the programme where we move to the area of structural reforms. These are really important to build an institutional framework for the country so that there is no repetition of the boom bust cycles of the past,” Ramirez Rigo, Mission Chief for Pakistan at International Monetary Fund, said in a conference call.
The IMF mission chief identified the three areas for continued progress that Pakistan needs to focus including the quality of the fiscal adjustment that will require continued work on the tax revenue side, energy sector reforms for more automaticity capacity implementation by legislation for National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, and the independence of central bank.
The fund on Monday released report of the first review of the bailout programme under which it agreed to extend $6 billion to Pakistan. The IMF has documented progressed made by the authorities and revised targets including the revenue collection target for current fiscal year.
Islamabad had targeted Rs 5.5 trillion tax collection for the current fiscal year FY20 through Federal Board of Revenue FBR but the fund projects agency’s tax collection would be Rs 5.238 trillion, showing a reduction of Rs 265 billion.
The report highlights that the country has met around 6 performance criteria while two are continuous and the Islamabad has missed 5 indicative targets that include cumulative floor on targeted cash transfers spending Benazir Income Support Programme as only Rs 5 billion were released against target of Rs 45 billion.
