Islamabad, Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb warned that the cash-strapped country will continue to seek bailouts from the IMF if it fails to raise tax revenues, according to a media report on Monday.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, in an interview with the UK-based Financial Times newspaper, said he was "relatively confident" of reaching a staff-level agreement with the Washington-based global lender for an estimated loan of $6 billion to $8 billion.
Aurangzeb, however, said: "It will not be our last fund program if we do not increase our tax revenue."
Last month, the federal government approved the tax-laden budget of Rs 18,877 billion for fiscal year 2024-25, amid protests from the opposition that called it an International Monetary Fund-driven document that was detrimental to the public.
Weeks after cutting fuel prices ahead of the Eid ul Adha festival, Pakistan's cash-strapped government on July 1 dramatically increased its prices for the coming fortnights as the new fiscal year begins.
The tax increases will fall mainly on salaried workers, who make up a relatively small part of Pakistan's largely informal economy, as well as some retail and export businesses, Geo News reported.
The budget also threatened punitive measures for tax evaders, including restrictions on mobile phones, access to gas and electricity and the ability to fly abroad.
"We don't have five years for our program," Aurangzeb warned in the wake of a budget that seeks to restore the country's ailing economy. "We have to start showing results, start giving results, in the next two or three months," he said.
The Finance Minister said the direction of travel is positive and investors are showing confidence in the stock market, referring to the KSE-100 index.
Still, the government faces a considerable challenge in putting Pakistan on a path to long-term growth and debt sustainability, he said.
The country's debt has skyrocketed since the mid-2000s as authorities failed to invest loan money in productive and export-oriented sectors, Geo News reported.
Instead, the country remains dependent on imports, forcing Islamabad to borrow to pay off existing and accumulated debts, Aurangzeb said.
"We need to create the capacity to repay loans," said the Finance Minister. “As long as this economy remains based on imports, what happens is that the moment it heats up, “we run out of dollars [and] we have to go back on our knees before the lender of last resort.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently traveled to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China to solicit investments in addition to the IMF programme, which would be Pakistan's 24th with the multilateral lender.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, in an interview with the UK-based Financial Times newspaper, said he was "relatively confident" of reaching a staff-level agreement with the Washington-based global lender for an estimated loan of $6 billion to $8 billion.
Aurangzeb, however, said: "It will not be our last fund program if we do not increase our tax revenue."
Last month, the federal government approved the tax-laden budget of Rs 18,877 billion for fiscal year 2024-25, amid protests from the opposition that called it an International Monetary Fund-driven document that was detrimental to the public.
Weeks after cutting fuel prices ahead of the Eid ul Adha festival, Pakistan's cash-strapped government on July 1 dramatically increased its prices for the coming fortnights as the new fiscal year begins.
The tax increases will fall mainly on salaried workers, who make up a relatively small part of Pakistan's largely informal economy, as well as some retail and export businesses, Geo News reported.
The budget also threatened punitive measures for tax evaders, including restrictions on mobile phones, access to gas and electricity and the ability to fly abroad.
"We don't have five years for our program," Aurangzeb warned in the wake of a budget that seeks to restore the country's ailing economy. "We have to start showing results, start giving results, in the next two or three months," he said.
The Finance Minister said the direction of travel is positive and investors are showing confidence in the stock market, referring to the KSE-100 index.
Still, the government faces a considerable challenge in putting Pakistan on a path to long-term growth and debt sustainability, he said.
The country's debt has skyrocketed since the mid-2000s as authorities failed to invest loan money in productive and export-oriented sectors, Geo News reported.
Instead, the country remains dependent on imports, forcing Islamabad to borrow to pay off existing and accumulated debts, Aurangzeb said.
"We need to create the capacity to repay loans," said the Finance Minister. “As long as this economy remains based on imports, what happens is that the moment it heats up, “we run out of dollars [and] we have to go back on our knees before the lender of last resort.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently traveled to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China to solicit investments in addition to the IMF programme, which would be Pakistan's 24th with the multilateral lender.
