Islamabad: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Saturday that Pakistan would raise Rs 215 billion through taxes in order to satisfy the IMF's onerous requirements for a much-needed loan. Dar said Pakistan is trying to fulfil all the formalities the global lender wants them to complete before availing the loan, and he made the remarks at the end of a three-day general discussion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the budget for the financial year 2023-24 held in the National Assembly.
A total of Rs 215 billion (about USD 750,400,000) in taxes have been agreed upon for the fiscal year 2023-24 as a consequence of discussions with the IMF, he said, promising that this amount would not be a hardship for the country's poor and middle classes.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan agreed in 2019 to provide USD 6 billion to Pakistan on the fulfilment of certain conditions; this announcement was made by Dar two days after IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to resolve policy differences at the staff level before getting a much-needed loan to stabilise the country's economy.—Inputs from Agencies