The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission and Pakistani authorities held key discussions on agricultural income tax on Monday. Sources from Pakistan’s Finance Ministry confirmed that the IMF team conducted a special session with provincial governments, the Ministry of Finance, and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials to address the issue.
The IMF mission is also set to meet with provincial officials on Tuesday, March 11, to continue these discussions.
While the IMF mission was expected to initiate policy-level talks regarding the disbursement of the next $1 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) on Monday, sources revealed that no direct meeting took place between Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and the IMF team. Instead, other government officials engaged with the mission.
Pakistan will soon submit a report outlining the progress made in fulfilling the conditions set by the IMF under the $7 billion loan program, including a detailed review of the first half of the current fiscal year.
Once these discussions are concluded, the IMF staff will finalize their recommendations, which will be reviewed by the Executive Board as a prerequisite for approving the $1 billion loan tranche.
