LAHORE: Increasing energy tariffs, rising unemployment, price hikes and economic issues in the last two years have forced the business community to urge the government to immediately renegotiate the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

“The IMF programme needs renegotiation. Front-loaded tax targets without the Federal Board of Reve­nue’s (FBR) capability to broaden the tax base, knee-jerk withdrawal of investment incentives, higher utility costs to manage circular debt will sap growth of the fragile economy, threaten jobs,” the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) said in a tweet on Saturday.

The PBC had tagged the official Twitter accounts of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Minister for Finance, Revenue, Industries & Prod­u­ction Hammad Azhar.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2021