Islamabad, Oct 18: Muhammad Aurangzeb, the federal minister of finance and revenue, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to continuing with extensive reforms on the fronts of energy, taxes, and SOE.
Donald Blome, the US Envoy, paid the minister a visit in the Finance Division today. Bilateral cooperation and topics of mutual interest were covered during the meeting.
US Envoy Donald Blome praised Pakistan’s government for enacting difficult and daring reforms, especially in the energy and taxes sectors, and acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to improve macroeconomic stability.
He restated his commitment to advancing high-caliber US investment for Pakistan’s economic development as well as to strengthening bilateral cooperation in technical and development projects.
Aurangzeb stated that by sealing leaks and bringing untaxed industries within the net, the government was dedicated to increasing the nation’s tax-to-GDP ratio to 13.5 percent.
He claimed that a thorough transformation plan for FBR had been approved by the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and specialists had been brought in to serve on the PRAL Board (the IT arm of FBR).
The finance minister referred to the macroeconomic changes as a “work in progress” and highlighted the more pressing issues of child stunting and climate change, which posed a medium- to long-term threat to maintain inequality and impede Pakistan’s economic growth and stability.
In order to achieve comprehensive development goals, he stated that Pakistan looked forward to reducing malnutrition with the technical and financial assistance of development partners and enhancing climate resilience through adaptation measures.
