- Pakistan, the IMF is heading for SLA with written insurance.
- The world lender plans to add climate funding to $ 7 billion in efficiency.
- The IMF refuses to reduce taxes on property, tobacco, drinks.
Islamabad: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) finally refused the request of the Federal Board of Return (FBR) to reduce transaction taxes for the real estate sector at this stage, The news reported on Monday.
Previously, senior officials said that the lender based in Washington had, in principle, agreed to reduce the tax of restraint on goods buyers by 2% from April 1, 2025, as a formal approval manager.
Now the IMF officially said that he had not agreed to reduce property transaction taxes.
The IMF also refused to reduce tax rates for tobacco and drinks and has now refused to entertain the last and last advocacy of the FBR to reduce tax rates of the real estate sector. On the other hand, Pakistan and the IMF were heading towards the conclusion of a staff level agreement (SLA), but Pakistan will have to give IMF insurance in writing that the provinces would not dive into the purchase of wheat.
The IMF has shown its desire to increase the existing installations of the extensive fund of $ 7 billion (EFF) with climate funding under the RSF, which will be presented before the Fund Executive Council to obtain approval as well as the release request for the second tranche. It is not yet known exactly the size of the financing under the RSF, but it is expected that up to $ 1 billion to be provided for the Climate Resilience Fund (CRF). The Minister of Finance of Pakistan, Muhammad Aurangzeb, also hoped last Friday that the two parties would soon be heading for a staff level agreement.
IMF resident chief in Pakistan Mahir Binci contacted this scribe and said that “the IMF did not agree on a lower reservoir tax on real estate transactions and the decline in March 2025 objectives”. By lowering the tax collection objective in March 2025, official sources said that the FBR could not reach the monthly objective in progress at all costs and that it was agreed by the IMF or not, it would be confronted with a deficit in achieving the desired target of 1,220 billion rupees for this current month.
According to the internal work of the FBR, it could be faced with a collection of income in the RS60 to 80 billion range due to an increased number of holidays by the end of the month in progress due to the Eid Ul FITR. Thus, it was suggested to the Ministry of Finance and the IMF that the deficit of 60 to 80 billion rupees could be moved to the target of income recovery for April and May 2025, instead of June 2025, as there would be a higher tax collection for the last month of the current year.