After much delay and speculation, on Tuesday the government announced a broad agreement with the IMF on the next year’s budget that has seen its size increased to Rs9.9 trillion. This increase has come about as the government agreed to reintroduce tax on people earning up to Rs100,000 and a petroleum levy from July 1 onwards. Given how uncertainty and anxiety was mounting over the revival of the IMF deal, this news will definitely help calm a lot of nerves as this was desperately needed to instill some sense of stability to the economy. The government has also decided to impose an Income Support Levy on people and companies earning Rs150 million a year and above. In order to get the economy back up on its feet, efforts will have to be focused on boosting consumption and production.

Source: The Nation June 23, 2022 00:29 UTC