By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan introduced a number of changes to its fiscal 2024 budget on Saturday, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in a last-ditch effort to clinch a stalled rescue package with the International Monetary Fund.
“Pakistan and IMF had detailed negotiations as a last effort to complete the pending review,” he told parliament.
For the fiscal year starting next month, Pakistan will raise a further 215 billion rupees ($752 million) in new tax and cut 85 billion rupees ($300 million) in spending, as well as a number of other measures to shrink fiscal deficit, he said.
The review came a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Global Financing Summit in Paris.
About a week remains before the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019 expires on June 30.
Under the $6.5 billion facility’s ninth review, negotiated earlier this year, Pakistan has been trying to secure $1.1 billion of funding stalled since November.
($1 = 286.0000 Pakistani rupees)
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by William Mallard)
