Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that no new tax would be imposed on the country’s agriculture and construction sectors.
Dar gave the assurance at the floor of the National Assembly after reports that the government would introduce tax on these sectors to fulfill the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which agreed last month to provide a USD 3 billion loan in nine months.
"I am giving a categorical statement here that not even a single new tax will be applied, neither on agriculture nor on construction (and) real estate (sectors)," he said.
He rejected all rumors about new taxes that caused a “wave of concern among the agricultural community in villages” as people were afraid of new taxes. Dar reiterated the same in a tweet later on to further clarify: “No tax of any kind has been imposed on agriculture and construction and will not be imposed.”
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Pakistan and the IMF agreed on a short term stand-by agreement (SBA) to help in the balance of payments and the fund already provided USD 1.2 billion.
With support from the IMF and other friendly countries, the foreign exchange reserves have risen by more than USD 4.2 billion dollars since this month, removing the threat of default.
