Aurangzeb says economic reforms will continue under IMF

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Finance Mohammad Aurangzeb has said that economic reforms will continue under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the Fund programme will be lond-term.

He expressed these views while talking to Bol TV famous programme “Tabdeeli with Dr Danish” hosted by senior news anchor Dr Danish on Sunday.

The minister asserted that inflation in the country has come down from 38 to 20 per cent, hoping decrease in dearness will  reduce the interest rate and the stability of economy will keep its pace maintain.

He observed that the market forces determine the value of US dollar, adding that tax on salaried class is immediately applicable.

Aurangzeb said the flood in 2022 had caused severe damage, however, that cotton, wheat and rice are the bumper crops this year.

He hoped that the GDP growth is to be taken up to 7 to 8 percent and IT exports will remain at $3.3 billion.

CPEC Phase-2 could not proceed as fast as it should, he said and added the federation will proceed faster in consultation with the provinces.

“The share of direct tax in the economy is low, the country can only run on taxes, our revenue target is 9.4 trillion rupees but we have tax data for collection,” the minister said.

The Federal Finance Minister further said that 500 billion rupees of electricity is being stolen, maintaining SIFC’s platform is very important.

Property and real estate also have to be brought into the tax net. The prime minister took steps to issue a notification regarding the officers who are not working properly in the tax authority.