IMF Blasts Pakistan Budget, Signaling Bailout May Not Happen
- Moody’s has said nation could default without an IMF deal
- Pakistan to face about $23 billion in debt next fiscal year
A person counts Pakistan rupees banknotes.
Photographer: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty ImagesThe International Monetary Fund criticized the Pakistan government’s budget as insufficient to meet the goals of its bailout program, a sign that a deadline this month to unlock aid will not be met.
The tax policies in the new budget, unveiled last week, miss “an opportunity to broaden the tax base in a more progressive way, and the long list of new tax expenditures reduces further the fairness of the tax system,” Esther Perez Ruiz, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan, said in a statement.