Islamabad:
The country’s finance minister has said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ready to give more money to the country, but also requires the government to make tax reforms.
“The prime minister (Shehbaz Sharif]is clear about [tax] Reforms made by us, “said Muhammad Aurengzeb while heading to an event organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Faisalabad on Saturday.
Aurengzeb said he is repeatedly asked why we have to seek help from the IMF. “You know why we have to go to the IMF. So that the economy can continue to work,” he added.
He acknowledged that the salaried class was with the worst part of the taxes. He said the government wants salaried people to present a form. The minister declared that people belonging to seven different fields could present these online forms for November this year.
“We are digitizing everything [tax] system. You will see more improvements in the next few days. “
Referring to a recent meeting of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, said the prime minister asked the CJ to ask him to judge cases related to expedited taxes.
He said that due to pending tax cases, the country has to suffer an annual loss of RS1 billion every year.
He said he would like to talk about the policy rate and inflation, since these have been challenging issues for some time. He pointed out that interest rates are decreasing and car financing has already seen a reduction.
“Recently, sugar prices, ghee and other essential items have decreased. Every year there is discussion about sugar prices, but sugar prices will decrease this ramazan. He said that prices generally increase when there is an intermediary involved.
Speaking with reference to the Federal Government’s rights initiative, he said that different ministries and departments are being merged to reduce expenses.
“There are 43 ministries, five to six of which merger with other ministries. We have already completed the work to abolish a ministry. We are doing all this to reduce expenses.
He said the government is making very difficult decisions at this time, with an approach to three key areas. “We need to look forward instead of stopping in the past. At this time, the entire government approach is how to move towards growth,” he added.
The minister said he was in Saudi Arabia last week, where more than 30 finance ministers were present. “The discussion was about the changing approach of global trade to regional trade,” he said.
“I will not make any promise that I cannot fulfill. You are all my interested parties, and I want everyone to keep going together. We must work together and look back,” he added.
