Islamabad (Newsman): In an on-going parleys, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission on Tuesday morning held a key session with Pakistani economic team led by Finance minister, Mohammad Aurangzeb, here.
Tuesday ‘s morning session was basically meant to brief by Pakistani side to IMF visiting team on Pakistan’s economic performance in the first four months of the current fiscal, sources said.
The briefing to IMF team included Pakistan’s revenue collection between July -Oct , Pakistan’s forex reserves and its imports and exports data to see how Pakistan is doing on these fronts.
Pakistan’s forex reserves are close to 12 billion, which are on target . But its lagging behind in two areas. One, revenue collection which is short of target in the first four months of FY25. Second, Pakistan has a gap of $ 2.5 billion in financing for FY 25.
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These two areas are cause of concern for IMF. IMF may demand of Pakistan to take additional measures to make up shortfall in revenue collections .
These additional measures could be enhancing Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) from Rs 60 to Rs 70 per litre, besides introducing new taxes on a number of items. Pakistan had agreed to achieve revenue target of Rs 13 trillion in FY 25 , but its facing huge shortfall of Rs 192 billion in just first four months of the current fiscal year.
On external financial gap of $ 2.5 billion , Pakistan may go back to its creditors such as Saudi Arabia , Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
IMF had approved a $ 7.01 billion bailout package for Pakistan in October last and also released its first tranche to Pakistan in the same month.
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However, the release of the second tranche by IMF to Pakistan will depend on the outcome of the on-going review of Pakistan’s economy. An official handout of the Finance ministry issued on Tuesday said Pakistan and IMF held a preliminary session on review of Pakistan’s economy here.
Finance minister Mohammad Aurangzeb, was assisted by State Bank of Pakistan Governor, Mohammad Jamil, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman and senior official of the Finance ministry.