Stocks on Thursday topped the 94,200-point mark, fuelled by economic optimism after reports indicated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised no red flags over Pakistan’s progress on revenue collection commitments, easing fears of an imminent mini-budget with new taxation measures.
As of 12:22pm, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index surged by 865 points, reaching a record high of 94,225 points.
The IMF mission, after meetings with Pakistani authorities, has reportedly given a thumbs-up to an increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio by nearly 1.5 percentage points, which is significant achievement on the part of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan’s taxation apparatus.
This improvement means there’s no immediate need for additional tax measures through a supplementary finance bill.
It must be noted that the IMF had previously set a target for Pakistan to boost its tax revenues by 1.5% of the GDP in the fiscal year 2024-25, targeting a total increase of 3% throughout the 37-month programme.
Last week, The News has reported that an urgent IMF mission is arriving next week to hold talks with Pakistan in the aftermath of major “deviations” on performance targets and urge Islamabad to introduce a mini-budget for course correction.
