Hours after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a statement on its talks with Pakistan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the parleys with the global lender ended "positively" and the government will have to impose Rs170 billion in taxes through a mini-budget in order to revive the loan programme. 

Addressing the media, the finance minister confirmed that the government had received the draft of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the Washington-based lender.

At the start of his media talk, the finance minister reminded that the programme that the incumbent government was implementing was the one signed by former prime minister Imran Khan with the IMF in 2019-2020. He reiterated that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government is holding talks on this agreement as a "sovereign commitment".

"This is an old agreement which had been suspended and delayed previously," he noted. 

Coming on to Pakistan's talks with the IMF mission, the finance minister said that the 10-day-long discussions were extensive covering the power, and gas sectors and the fiscal and monetary side. 

"The SBP governor and officials from different departments and ministries participated in the talks," said Dar.

The finance minister announced that new taxes worth Rs170 billion will be imposed and energy sector reforms will be implemented to restore the loan facility. He also added that the government was focusing on "minimising untargeted subsidies".

The finance minister said that some of the reforms suggested by the IMF are in Pakistan's favour. 

Dar emphasised that reforms are needed in Pakistan, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assured the IMF that the government would implement them.

"The government will stop the circular debt in the power sector and stop the circular debt in the gas sector from increasing," said Dar.

Dar said a courtesy Zoom meeting was held with the prime minister a day earlier which was attended by the IMF mission, country representative and the economic team.

The prime minister assured them to implement the agreement in letter and spirit, he said.

As per the standard procedure, a MEFP and a letter of intent are given. "The government has received the MEFP draft this morning and we will go through it on the weekend. A virtual meeting with the IMF will be held after that on Monday," he added.

"We believe that there are some sectors that need to be reformed in Pakistan's interest," he said.

The finmin said that the economy is bleeding and now it's ranked at 47.

He blamed those who misgoverned and mishandled leading to economic devastation, urging that it needs to be fixed.

Talking about the power sector, Dar said that Rs3,000 billion are spent on electricity generation but its recovery is just Rs1,800 billion.

"Even though these reforms are painful but we will have to implement them," he maintained.

He said that the government had decided that Pakistan will complete the IMF's programme for the second time.

“Pakistan will get $1.2 billion after the approval of IMF’s Executive Board.”