IMF allows tax concessions to affected businesses amid COVID-19 outbreak

Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeex Shaikh has stated that the IMF has recently allowed the federal executive to provide tax concessions to industries and individuals affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The PM’s advisor on finance also said that they were not planning to renegotiate the USD 6 billion package with IMF. However, he said in case of need, the government could ask the IMF for an additional support package and they were not writing the option off.

He said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) had agreed to provide concessional loans for fighting the increase in coronavirus affected cases in the country. Shaikh also revealed that the IMF had already agreed to relax the budget deficit ceiling to the extent of the human coronavirus-related spending in Pakistan.