According to the Express Tribune, the PTI administration plans to present a mini-budget to Parliament tomorrow (Monday) to fulfill the requirements imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the renewal of its $6 billion loans.
To earn an additional 350 billion rupees in revenue, the current government would impose new taxes and eliminate exemptions. According to local media reports, the federal government has introduced a bill to amend the Fourth Tax Laws Amendment Ordinance. Schedule 6 will be removed from the modified financial statement, bringing the Rs350 billion tax exemption to an end.
Mobile phone and packaged food tax exemptions are expected to be canceled, and the amendment bill would empower the government to remove sales tax exemptions from zero-rated businesses in addition to exports.
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In addition, the objective for petroleum development recovery would be lowered from Rs600 billion to Rs356 billion. According to sources, products having an excess sales tax exemption will be subject to the ordinary sales tax rate of 17%.
Many additional tax exemptions are expected to be eliminated, and the law contains provisions that would allow the Prime Minister the authority to amend the petroleum development levy.
To recoup more than 1 billion in payments from the Fund, the cash-strapped South Asian country must fulfill the global lender’s terms and conditions by January 12, 2022.
Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, said the unified opposition will oppose the Pakistan Tehreek-e-mini-budget, Insaf’s calling its passage “national suicide.”
The PM-N leader hinted at a coordinated opposition plan to obstruct and reject the mini-budget because it jeopardizes Pakistan’s economic sovereignty.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also blasted Imran Khan’s government, rejecting the IMF and the government’s mini-budget and questioning authorities’ decision to keep the specifics of the deal secret.
According to opposition MPs, the mini-budget does not respond to the present economic issues. The government’s strategy to satisfy the IMF’s conditions for the loan included depreciating the rupee against the dollar and raising the prices of petroleum goods and pow.
