Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Friday said that the government is bringing a ‘mini budget’ next week under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Shaukat Tarin cleared that mini budget will not end the tax exemption on food items.

In an interview to a foreign Urdu website, Shaukat Tarin said that in the ‘mini budget’, customs duty on make-up items, clothes, shoes and other imported luxury items including perfumes will be increased.

In addition, the sales tax rate on some locally manufactured items will be increased from 12 percent to 17 percent.

Meanwhile, the finance adviser said that petrol prices had not come down till now after falling prices in the world market.

However, petrol prices in Pakistan will be reduced in coming weeks, the Finance Adviser said.

Shaukat Tarin previous talk

Talking to media persons in Karachi, the finance adviser said that as per an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached in March this year, the government had agreed to generate Rs700 billion in taxes to receive the third tranche under the IMF loan programme.

“When I became the finance minister, I had said we will not increase taxes. We will not allow [the IMF] to impose more taxes on people who are already paying them.”

The finance adviser said the IMF asked Pakistan to give ‘targetted subsidies’ with an across-the-board sales tax rate of 17 per cent. “They say, ‘you [Pakistan] have imposed 17 per cent sales tax on some [sectors], zero on some and 10pc on some’.”