To comply with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) conditions under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), Pakistan will have to make 174 legislative amendments in parliament, including the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), as formal review talks with the Fund mission had already begun. These legislative amendments comprise various sectors such as taxation, energy, privatisation, the SWF, sugar policy, Islamic banking and fiscal consolidation. "There are 174 amendments in total which the IMF wants to get passed from parliament," Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal stated before the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.
He added the government would place all proposed amendments before parliament. The NA Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue met under the chairmanship of Syed Naveed Qamar here at the Parliament House on Thursday. Briefing the NA panel, the finance secretary testified that the government had made clear to the IMF that it was the prerogative of parliament to pass the legislative amendments.
The panel scrutinised the review of the ongoing IMF programme and conditions attached to it, covering implementation on benchmarks, revenue mobilisation, energy-sector reforms, provincial commitments, governance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), climate-related measures, privatisation initiatives and public-sector austerity. The government was also holding discussions with the IMF on remittances, while liberalisation of the sugar policy would be part of the review negotiations. "Three provinces have agreed on the sugar policy, while one province has some reservations," the secretary said.
The Finance Division noted 15 structural benchmarks under the heading of the fourth review, including adopting appropriate governance mechanisms and safeguards for the sovereign wealth fund and its SOEs. A matter relating to Islamic banking was being worked upon, while issues concerning the Tax Policy Office would also come under discussion with the IMF mission. The privatisation of power distribution companies (Discos) would also be discussed during the review talks.
The forum also examined primary-surplus targets, government guarantees and the fiscal position of the provinces. The committee examined the retailer tax-registration scheme in detail.