Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Sunday the economic stability in Pakistan has revived the trust of international institutions, Aaj News reported.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said that the country’s economy has significantly improved with the prudent economic policies of the government.

Budget approved by NA ahead of fresh IMF loan

He said that with prudent economic policies sustainable economic stability will also be achieved.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to digitizing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure transparency and end corruption.

He stressed the need to avoid human interventions to make the system of FBR free from malpractices.

Aurangzeb said that retailers will be brought under tax net and for this purpose forty-two thousand retailers have so far been registered.

He vowed to bring the tax-to-GDP ratio to thirteen percent in the next three years by introducing pragmatic reforms in various sectors of the economy.

‘Do more’: IMF says budget approval ‘not enough’

The finance minister’s remarks come days after the government passed Federal Budget 2024-25 from the National Assembly – ahead of crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – with specific amendments, but further enhancing the taxes and no relief to the taxpayer.

In a related development, the IMF on Saturday termed budget 2024-25 approval as insufficient and demanded Pakistan to do more.

The National Assembly has approved the Federal Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 with a total outlay of Rs18,870 billion.

According to sources, the IMF wants Pakistan to hike the electricity and gas rates from July 1 and immediately implement the NEPRA decision regarding the gas and power tariffs increase.