Govt to address Rs853b discrepancy

The Express Tribune reported that Pakistan has told the IMF it will provide more information on a Rs853 billion statistical discrepancy spread across five governments' accounts for fiscal year 2025-26. Of that sum, Rs448 billion sits in federal accounts, while Punjab has reported a Rs266 billion gap. The visiting mission also took up weak agriculture income tax collection, which stood at around Rs5 billion last year.

Punjab's finance department attributed its gap to commercial account operations and to development funds released late in the year. Cheques are issued before June to use the money, but cash leaves the account only after June 30, a routine in late June. Officials also said the treasury single account has not been fully rolled out, and the finance ministry says the gap will have no adverse effect on the 2.9% of GDP primary surplus.

Agriculture income tax rates rose from 15% to 45%, but last year Sindh collected Rs1.1 billion against a Rs2 billion target and Punjab Rs4 billion against Rs10.5 billion. The FBR missed last year's revised target by Rs929 billion and stayed non-committal on the Rs15.263 trillion goal for this year, saying it depends on regional security developments. The government says it has met the IMF's core primary surplus condition and hopes the review concludes on October 7.