ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said Wednesday no proposal for taking any additional revenue measures in a mini-budget was under consideration at the moment.
“There is a commitment with the IMF to achieve a tax-to-GDP ratio at 11 percent for the current financial year, and we will comply with it,” Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said while talking to reporters after attending meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance here at the Parliament House on Wednesday.
When this correspondent inquired about the possibility of any additional measures in the wake of FBR’s revenue shortfall of almost Rs200 billion in the first quarter (July-September) of FY26, the minister replied, “There is no such thing under consideration at the moment”.
He said that the ongoing review talks with the IMF were moving in the right direction. The IMF review mission, he said, was holding parleys for completion of the second review under $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and then there would be the first review under the Resilience Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Mentioning several pending tax-related cases in courts, he hoped that such cases would increase the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) collections.
Earlier, during the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, the Minister for Finance said that the IMF review talks were moving in the right direction. He said that Pakistan’s macroeconomic stabilisation resulted in the payment of $500 million on the maturity of the Eurobond on September 30, 2025. Now this repayment, he said, has become a non-event. “We will also repay $1.3 billion on account of the maturity of Eurobond in April 2026,” he added.
The minister said that Pakistan would launch a Panda bond, and its inaugural launch would be done in November 2025 in order to generate $250 million. The Panda bond will be launched with a size of up to $1 billion, and its prescriptions will be done in a phased manner. “It’s a significant development for entering into the Chinese market, and it should have been done a few years ago,” he added.
Muhammad Aurangzeb said that the Tax Policy Unit (TPU) would be established in the Ministry of Finance, and then an Advisory Board comprising public sector and private sector experts would be constituted to get recommendations. The TPU, he said, under the domain of the Ministry of Finance, would prepare the next budget for 2026-27, while FBR will only focus on collecting revenues.
The Minister for Finance sternly opposed the Senate panel’s recommendation for the inclusion of members of Parliament into Boards of Regulatory Bodies and argued that no such precedent exists, so they opposed it.
Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Awan was invited by the Senate panel to get his viewpoint on the lingering controversy, whereby the FBR filed against the verdict of the President of Pakistan before the Sindh Court. The President’s Director General and one legal counsel opined that the FBR breached the law of the land for filing against the verdict of the President. The Attorney General replied that the classification of goods does not fall under the jurisdiction of the FTO Ordinance. The FTO could not intervene in all matters, including the classification of goods under the Customs Act.
The Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, asked the AG to resolve this matter by listening to the viewpoints of both sides.
The issue of sending a tax notice to Senator Afnan Ullah also came under discussion, and the FBR’s Member Hamid Ateeq Sarwar apprised the committee that the matter was sub-judice so it’s not appropriate to disclose personal details at this forum.
The Committee continued its discussion on the Virtual Assets Bill, 2025. It was highlighted that the Bill seeks to establish a regulatory framework for virtual assets in line with international practices, providing safeguards against misuse while supporting innovation and economic participation, particularly among the youth. Members underlined the importance of aligning the framework with Pakistan’s national priorities and raised queries regarding consumer protection, regulatory overlaps, obligations of licensees, and the relationship of the Bill with existing legislation. The committee observed that certain clauses required further refinement and decided that deliberations on the Bill would continue in the coming meeting.