By; Sameer Ahmad Qureshi
Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, while rejecting baseless statements about the country’s economy, has given an encouraging assurance that the country will not go bankrupt, nor is there any risk of it. Work has been completed for agreement with IMF. In 2013 it was also claimed that Pakistan would default but even then Pakistan came out of this situation very quickly. Even now the difficulties will end. The growth of the national economy and making it the fourth largest economy in the world has started again. It is a big challenge but we will lead it. The Finance Minister was presiding over the proposals and recommendations on the federal budget for the new financial year at the FBR headquarters. He also sought suggestions from the FBR officials regarding improvement in revenue collection and budget, which is being presented in the National Assembly on June 9. He said that the business community should also give their suggestions for increasing revenue. In the upcoming budget, FBR’s tax target is expected to be Rs 2.9 trillion. Big businesses also suggest that instead of increasing taxes, the tax net should be increased. The finance minister rightly pointed out that the biggest problem at the moment is external financing. The business community is facing problems like LCs, but God willing, this problem will also be solved. Commercial loans of 5.5 billion dollars have been returned, after which China rolled over Pakistan’s loans. Unfortunately, despite the completion of preliminary steps, the agreement is being delayed. Presenting a public budget is a big challenge in the current economic conditions. In order to increase the revenue, such a sector will also have to be brought into the tax net which is still outside the tax net. Reduction of expenditure, search for new resources, corruption and tax evasion must be closed.