Pakistan not to exit IMF programme, says Shaukat Tarin

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin Friday said Pakistan was negotiating with Saudi Arabia for provision of oil on deferred payment.

Talking in Geo’s ‘Naya Pakistan’ program, he said Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide oil on deferred payment but it could not be ascertained how much oil Pakistan would get. He said Pakistan would not exit from the IMF programme adding that the Fund had asked Pakistan to present its budget so the negotiations would continue.

He said they had conveyed the IMF that it should not be their problem that how the FBR meets the set revenue collection target of Rs5.829 trillion. The minister said the government will have to increase the POL prices in the coming month and conformed that the petroleum levy would be increased up to Rs600 billion in the coming fiscal year so the levy will have to be jacked up in the range of Rs20 to Rs25 per liter, while currently Rs5 per liter levy was being charged.

He said remittances would increase from $32 to $33 billion in the next fiscal year. He said the current account deficit will be in the range of $2 billion to $3 billion in next fiscal year.