Islamabad:

According to Pakistan’s ARY News, the World Bank has asked the Pakistani government to carry out tax reforms and remove exemptions from customs duties and sales taxes.

According to ARY News, the World Bank, in a report on Pakistan, recommended that the Pakistani government urgently needs to reform the tax system and eliminate sales tax exemptions to promote economic and social improvement.

According to reports, the World Bank asked the Pakistani government to formulate a national policy for child development, called for a reduction in subsidies for energy and other commodities, and recommended that the Pakistani government reallocate these funds to public welfare projects.

“The government should implement austerity measures and promote public-private cooperation among state-owned enterprises,” the report said, ARY News reported.

In its report, the World Bank asked the Pakistani government to restructure the tax system, remove exemptions from customs duties and sales taxes, and impose new taxes on real estate and agriculture. In addition, it calls for a long-term business tariff plan and for gas tariffs for consumers to be aligned with the cost of supply.

The World Bank says Pakistan will collect less tax in 2023 than its actual capacity. According to ARY News, the World Bank said in a report that Pakistan’s tax revenue was less than PKR 737 billion and urged Islamabad to end all tax exemption policies to reduce its debt burden.

The international lender has also asked Pakistan to raise tax revenues from agriculture, real estate and retail sectors to generate additional revenue. Two main areas under provincial jurisdiction – real estate and agriculture – hold the bulk of untaxed wealth and require provincial governments to tax these two sectors.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)