PM Shehbaz Sharif says terms with IMF have been finalised

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asserted that the terms with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been finalised and the deal will close soon, barring any other conditions set by the global lender, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Addressing the PML-N Senators, the prime minister criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for signing an agreement with the international lender to increase the levy on fuel prices, but refused to abide by the agreement.

“The previous government had accepted to raise Rs 30 petrol levy and sales tax of 17 percent,” he said. “However, the deal was quashed and the previous government had suddenly reduced the prices this March at a time when the petrol prices skyrocketed globally.”

PM Shehbaz further said that the government’s deal with the global lender had been finalized, however, the positive results in the shape of development would take some time.

The prime minister added that the Fund was not ready to trust the PML-N government because of the actions of the previous government. “The IMF was adamant on us fulfilling all the conditions of the agreement,” he said.

The premier reiterated that for the first time in history, a genuine tax was imposed on the net income of affluent persons to provide relief to poor who were the real builders of Pakistan.

A day earlier, it was reported that key progress has been made in talks on the revival of Pakistan’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme, both sides said on Wednesday.

“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.