Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged officials to make the newly secured $7 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the last bailout package for the country.
The prime minister’s statement came during a meeting of fiscal authorities in Islamabad, following a staff-level agreement with the IMF for the new loan, which is subject to the IMF board’s approval.
The premier congratulated Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and other officials for their hard work in the recent budget that helped materialize the deal. He emphasized the need for speedy and tireless efforts to ensure that this is the last IMF program for Pakistan.
The deal came weeks after Sharif’s government presented its first budget, aiming to collect Rs13 trillion ($44 billion) in taxes, a 40 percent increase from the last fiscal year.
The loan agreement includes conditions such as hiking household bills to remedy the energy sector and expanding the tax net.
The IMF said the loan and its conditions should allow Pakistan to “cement macroeconomic stability and create conditions for stronger, more inclusive and resilient growth.” However, Pakistan’s public debt remains huge at $242 billion, and servicing it will still swallow up half of the government’s income this fiscal year.
