Amnesty scheme designed to attract foreign currencies transfer withdrawn under IMF pressure
Business
Govt has also removed import restrictions, imposed Rs215 new taxes
ISLAMABAD (Dunya TV) – The government decided to reverse its decision regarding introduction of amnesty scheme for expats who had been allowed in the budget proposals to bring up to $100,000 without declaring their source of income.
However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had expressed serious reservations over the move and its withdrawal was one of the latest conditions to unlock the stalled loan programme.
Read more: IMF tells Pakistan to reset budget or lose loan deal
In this way, the government met another IMF demand, sources said, the first being removing all restrictions on imports. Later on Saturday, it also decided to impose new taxes to the tune to Rs215 billion as the IMF wanted further reduction in budget deficit.
Although the Pakistanis living abroad were not to be asked any question about their source of income under the scheme, they could transfer this money only through banking channels.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t just the IMF as the multinationals operating in Pakistan too were of the view that the relaxation would be misused.
Read more: Multinationals demand super tax abolishment, unhappy over concessions given to retailers
