Government agrees to recover top 100 written-off loans of each bank: PML-N, government talk on reforms agenda

The government has agreed to Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) demand to start recovery of top 100 written-off loans of each bank from 1971 onwards. This was stated by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh here on Tuesday after talks on 10 points economic reforms agenda with PML-N team led by Senator Ishaq Dar.
The Minister said that talks would continue for another two days and more decision would be announced on the last day. On Monday, he said that a detailed briefing was given on the data of loans written-off by each bank from 1971 onward and this has been agreed to start from 100 top written-off loans of each bank from 1971 onward. More decisions would also be taken, he added.
The meeting was also given a briefing on the on-going Reforms process in Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and was informed that over 0.7 million as new tax payers have been identified to broaden the tax base after scrutiny of available data. The FBR has also paid Rs 18 billion refund so far in the current fiscal year.
Ishaq Dar said this was pre-scheduled that the meeting would continue for three days and the PML-N team was reassured again today by the government side that parliamentary Committee for reconstitution of Election Commission would be notified in a couple of days. Dar said that an understanding on cut in Cabinet size was reached in the last meeting but was not disclosed because an announcement in this regard by the Prime Minister was most appropriate.
About economic reforms, he said that their team has asked the government to identify the reforms as well as additional taxation measures to reduce the budget deficit and decision to this effect would be taken in today''s (Wednesday) meeting. Ishaq Dar said that a mechanism would be put in place by next week to control prices of essential commodities to prevent dearness.
He said that the provinces are being taken on board because their role would be much more crucial in this regard. Dar said that some provinces have given their consent to the proposals finalised by a sub-committee of Parliamentary Committees and remaining provinces would be approached in next few days.
To a question, Ishaq Dar said that talks were taking too much time and his team was running out of patience. "But is trying to sit with the government to bring the country out of prevailing economic crisis," he added. To a question about the composition of Parliamentary Committee of the government after expected announcement of dissolution of the Cabinet today, Hafeez Sheikh said that talks are being held between government and important political party and are not persons specific.