Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin termed the geo-political situation of the region as a reason for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) to impose strict conditions on Pakistan.
The finance minister spoke about a number of issues, including the Supplementary Finance Bill 2021, inflation, State Bank Amendment Bill, prior actions demanded by IMF, and other core issues related to finance on Geo News‘ programme ‘Naya Pakistan’.
The minister, terming the geo-political situation of the region as a reason for the IMF being forceful, said that the talks with the lender aiming to restore the United States (US) $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) were not a piece of cake after the US pullout of Afghanistan.
Tarin admitted that America was behind IMF to impose strict conditions on Pakistan.
The finance minister said that the petroleum levy in fuel prices has been increased as per the IMF’s demand.
“We had cut down the sales tax on petroleum products to zero but were compelled to apply the petroleum levy due to IMF’s strict behaviour,” said Tarin, adding that the IMF had lent the country some money back in March 2021 on account of an increase in the petroleum levy.
