Finance Committee urges IMF to soften economic targets

• Finance Committee Member says that there should be a phase wise implementation of reforms.
• Asad Umar informed that at the moment there is a market-based exchange rate.

The members of Finance Committee have demanded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to soften up the economic targets, during the IMF delegation visit to parliament on Wednesday.

A joint session of the Finance Committee of both houses was held today under the chairmanship of former finance minister Asad Umar and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Farooq H. Naik. During the session, the members of the IMF mission were briefed on the loan program.

The members of the Finance Committee demanded the IMF to soften economic targets, saying that the target of annual sales tax should be reduced whereas, there should be a phase wise implementation of economic reforms.

The members also said that the exchange rate should be relaxed, to which the IMF officials said that exchange rate is a gradual process. Welcoming the meeting with the IMF, Umar said that at the moment there is a market-based exchange rate.

Farooq H. Naik said there has been an increase in smuggling after the government raised taxes, saying that the government should start negotiations with the stakeholders. Naik further said that the centralization of sales tax on services was a violation of the constitution.

Meanwhile, PPP’s Senator Sherry Rehman said that the government's statistics are different with ground reality, adding that the government does not have answers to our questions.