Islamabad: Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded technical level talks in which government presented plan for cutting Rs 611 billion in budgetary expenditures, citing sources.

Sources said that Pakistan has left no option other than hiking prices of petrol, diesel, electricity and gas. Final decision for toughest decisions will be taken by Prime Minister, sources added.

Government is also expected to take other political parties into confidence regarding tough economic decisions in upcoming all-parties conference. Government is expected to increase fuel levy and impose Sales Tax on petrol. On dictation of IMF, petrol prices will be hiked, whereas, levy of Rs 10 per litre on diesel is expected to be increased.

In four-day technical talks, government and IMF mission held discussions to reduce budget deficit. Different plans were discussed to reduce burden of external debt payments. In another development, details of mini-budget also came into discussion. IMF demanded to increase Sales Tax rate from 17 percent to 18 percent. They also deliberated on ending discounted Sales Tax rates for different sectors.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 04 2023

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