Govt decides reducing gas sector circular debt on IMF demand

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to reduce gas sector circular debt on the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ARY News reported on Thursday.

Sources told ARY News that the federal government decided to reduce the gas sector circular debt from Rs1,600 billion to Rs1,200 billion. Sources added that the finance and energy ministries prepared a plan for reducing the circular debt which was also shared with the IMF.

After the approval of the proposal, the concerned authorities will disburse the funds.

READ: IMF-Pakistan deal: Electricity prices to go up to control circular debt

Moreover, it was learnt that Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar also wanted to reduce the circular debts in the gas sector by next week.

Earlier, the finance minister presented the documents related to the Pakistan-IMF agreement to the National Assembly (NA) and gave assurance that new taxes will not be imposed on agriculture and construction sectors.

Dar had also asked the legislators to present their recommendations to the parliament for bringing key policy changes. He added that the details of the IMF agreement were presented to the parliament and public for maintaining the transparency.

He refuted the reports regarding new taxes on real estate, construction and agriculture sectors and termed them rumours.

Earlier in the month, it emerged that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked Pakistan to further hike the power and gas tariffs as details of the IMF-Pakistan deal emerged.

The details of the Pakistan-IMF deal emerged which stated that Pakistan needs to strict the monetary policy further to decrease the inflation in the country. IMF also welcomed the increase in the interest rate by Pakistan.

It is pertinent to mention here that the IMF executive board approved the bailout loan program of $3 billion after months of delay, boosting Pakistan’s financial stability ahead of elections this year.