Today’s discussions will revolve around Pakistan’s plan for taking additional taxation measures to fetch over Rs200bn
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan kick-started the "toughest" technical-level talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday to break the deadlock with the lender of the last resort and pave the way for striking a staff-level agreement.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar is leading the Pakistani side while IMF’s review mission is headed by Nathen Porter as the cash-strapped nation launches renewed efforts to complete the pending ninth review under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Today’s discussions will revolve around Pakistan’s plan for taking additional taxation measures to fetch over Rs200 billion through a presidential ordinance, rationalising expenditure, and hiking both electricity and gas tariffs for erasing the monster of the circular debt.
Analysts have termed the technical level talks "toughest" as the Fund has refused to give any leniency in its conditions set for the revival of the loan facility.