The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Pakistan to address its revenue shortfall in the upcoming fiscal quarter as part of discussions to unlock a $1 billion loan tranche from the ongoing $7 billion program.
According to sources, an IMF delegation led by Nathan Porter held extensive talks with Pakistani officials, emphasizing that there was no room for revenue shortfalls. The discussions covered critical economic and financial matters, including Islamic banking reforms, refinance schemes, and the transition in development finance.
The IMF also called for the operationalization of the Bank Resolution Framework to enhance banking sector stability and mitigate financial risks. Additionally, discussions included an external sector review and foreign exchange market trends.
Pakistani authorities briefed the IMF on monetary policy measures, while the global lender underscored the need for timely expenditure control through right-sizing initiatives. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was urged to strengthen compliance risk management and implement tax collection improvements.
Efforts to expand the tax net were also highlighted, with a particular focus on large retailers in major cities. The IMF instructed authorities to recover high-risk tax cases in Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore to help reduce the revenue gap.
Further negotiations are expected as both sides work towards finalizing Pakistan’s economic strategy for the coming months.
Separately, aA delay in the audit process of state institutions has worried the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Ajmal Gondal told a meeting of the Publics Account Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.
While addressing the meeting, AGP Gondal disclosed that the IMF had expressed its concerns over nearly 600,000 pending audit paras.
“The IMF has demanded early settlement of audit cases of institutions,” Gondal said, adding that there were about 500,000 to 600,000 pending audit paras pertaining to ministries and institutions.
He continued that despite the orders of parliament, no chief internal accountant had been appointed. “The financial audit system is flawed due to non-implementation of the rules.
“Secretaries and chief financial officers of institutions are not clearing their audits,” he said. “There are only chief financial officers in 15 institutions, and none of them have a chief internal accountant.”
He reiterated that there were no internal audit systems in institutions.
“The number of pending audit cases with the PAC has increased to more than 30,000,” the AGP said.
The PAC sought details from ministries and institutions within a month.
In August last year, the AGP had expressed serious concerns over the country’s deteriorating financial affairs, which have resulted in less than 4 per cent of the over Rs38.67 trillion budget being available for socio-economic services.
Additionally, around 93pc of supplementary grants worth over Rs8tr had not been approved by the parliament and remained unspent, representing a loss of public resources.