INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
IMF asked Pakistan to show how it would fund $1.5 billion subsidy package - ministerISLAMABAD: The International Money Fund (IMF) has asked
Pakistan to explain how it would fund a $1.5 billion subsidy package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin
said on Sunday."There are no issues
We have given them details as to where the funds would come from," Tarin said, adding the IMF wanted details of the resources to fund the
subsidy in fuel and electricity, which Pakistan has frozen for the next four months until the new budget.The IMF has begun the seventh
review of the $6 billion rescue package agreed with Pakistan in 2019, and Tarin said he will have a final meeting with the lender on
Tuesday.The IMF asked it will need to see the agreements of the dividends of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as well as details of the spare
funds the central government will get from provinces."We have done our homework," Tarin said.Some of the subsidy money would also come from
above-target revenues Pakistan was getting this fiscal year, he had said previously.Earlier this month, Tarin said revenue would hit 6.1
trillion Pakistani rupees ($34.2 billion), compared to a target of 5.8 trillion rupees.Embattled Khan, facing a no-confidence move to oust
him from office by opposition parties, had announced a cut in petrol and electricity prices despite a steep rise in the global oil
market.The south Asian country had to undertake fiscal tightening measures to pass its last IMF review, which was delayed by months as the
government struggled to complete prior action required by the lender to release $1 billion in February.(Except for the headline, this story
has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
