Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) evolved a broader agreement on the budget 2022-23 to revise upward the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) target and slash down the expenditures to achieve a revenue surplus in the next fiscal year.
Federal Minister for Revenue and Finance Miftah Ismail had already indicated the revival of the agreement with IMF within a day or two.
“I am very hopeful that the IMF programme will be revived soon,” said the finance minister. “Pakistan and the IMF locked the budget details and achieved substantial progress on finalising budgetary targets for 2022-23.”
“Now the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) will be shared by the IMF soon,” the minister said.
“Discussions between the IMF staff and the authorities on policies to strengthen macroeconomic stability in the coming year continue, and important progress has been made over the FY23 budget,” Esther Perez Ruiz, the IMF’s resident representative in Islamabad, told Reuters.
Miftah said that the government would target raising 96 billion rupees from privatisation in 2022/23. In the current fiscal year, the government did not raise any funds from privatisation.
