IMF Warns Pakistan of Global Risks, Urges Deeper Tax Reforms

IMF Warns Pakistan of Global Risks, Urges Deeper Tax Reforms

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Pakistan remains exposed to serious global risks and must push ahead with deeper economic reforms to protect its fragile recovery. Jihad Azour, the IMF's Director for the Middle East and Central Asia, said Pakistan faces higher energy and food prices, disruption to trade and supply chains, weaker external demand, and the danger of an abrupt tightening in global financing conditions.

"Pakistan remains exposed to higher energy and food prices, disruption to trade and supply chains, weaker external demand and an abrupt tightening in global financing conditions, heightening the premium on preserving stability while supporting the recovery," Azour said in a televised address to a tax reform workshop in Islamabad.

The warning came at a two-day high-level workshop on October 20-21, jointly convened by Pakistan's Finance Ministry and the IMF, on "Reforms for a Modern and Growth-Friendly Tax System." Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb delivered the opening remarks alongside Azour and Rodrigo Valdés, the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Director. The workshop's six sessions cover modernising Pakistan's tax system, a unified sales tax regime, a simpler income tax, tax administration and digitalisation, and fiscal federalism — all aimed at building a broader, fairer and more predictable tax system that supports investment and growth.

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