Budget committee formed under the leadership of Ishaq Dar, negotiations with IMF begin
Published 2 hours ago | By Pak24tv
The preparation of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2026-27 has officially begun. The Prime Minister has entrusted the responsibility of budget preparation to Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and a high-level committee has been formed under his leadership, which includes Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Cheema. A separate committee has also been formed for enforcement measures, which will be headed by Ahad Cheema.
In the first meeting, the FBR was directed to bring in modern AI and digital systems to prevent tax evasion, eliminate under-reporting and catch fake returns.
On the other hand, the IMF review mission led by Eva Petrova has met the Pakistani economic team. The delegation will remain in Pakistan till May 20 and will review the budget targets, tax collection, energy sector reforms and progress in privatization.
Talking about figures, the government wants to achieve a tax target of Rs 1.53 trillion in the upcoming fiscal year. Under the IMF agreement, a total of Rs430 billion in fiscal measures will have to be taken, of which Rs215 billion will be obtained from new taxes and Rs215 billion from improved enforcement. The government is also considering providing relief to some sectors, but it is not yet clear which sectors these will be.
