Jalil Afridi
Washington DC: Finance Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Aurangzeb while interacting with Pakistani journalists at Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington DC stated that Pakistan has over whelming support in Washington DC and from our the world therefore the “ball is in our court now and we must deliver.”
The minister also informed that the IMF delegation will be arriving in Pakistan some time in May and that Pakistan should be receiving the next potion of the loan sometime in June or July.
Mr Auranzeb especially thanked Mr Ajay Banga the President of the World Bank for promoting Climate, Digitization and Human Capital in Pakistan. With regard to World Bank, the minister also highlighted their cooperation in Health, Education and Child Stunting in Pakistan which are long programs extending upto ten years.
Regarding making the Tax collection more transparent and timely, the Minister said that 1.3 Trillion Rupees worth Tax related cases are pending in the Tribunals and that there “should be some decision taken at least in these tribunals.”
With regard to Tax collection, the Minister also informed that the Tax authority needs to go towards digitalization and few consultants have been short listed in this regard. “Action has to speak louder than the words” the Minister added and assured that implementations in this regard are in progress.
When asked by The Frontier Post about the credibility of influential politicians who wear 15 million Rupees worth watches but according to their tax returns they have only declare 3 million Rupees worth jewelry in their tax returns so how will Pakistan comply with the demand of IMF when it asks that the tax base should be increased in Pakistan. The minister replied that through Data Analytics and Digitization information about such individuals can easily be traced and they will be charged accordingly.
To another question by The Frontier Post
Whether Pakistan should give more importance to trade with India or Afghanistan, Mr Aurangzeb replied by saying “why not do trade with both of them.”
During the briefing one journalist congratulated the Minister on his successful trip to Washington DC where as this scribe told the Minister that the trip would have been great had the U.S. State Department not announced placing sanction of three Chinese companies who are providing equipments to the Ballistic Missile Program of Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention here that there is no data available to ascertain how much financial loss will happen to Pakistan due to such sanctions announced by the U.S. State Department.
