The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday told cash-strapped Pakistan to start functioning as a country and ensure that the rich pay taxes and only the poor get subsidies. Pakistan is on the verge of getting default.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, in an interview with German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, said that Pakistan needs to take strong measures to avoid getting into a dangerous place.
"It shouldn’t be that the wealthy benefit from subsidies. It should be the poor [who] benefit from them," DAWN quoted IMF chief as saying.
"What we are asking for are steps Pakistan needs to take to be able to function as a country and not to get into a dangerous place where its debt needs to be restructured,” she said.
“I want to stress that we are emphasising two things. Number one: Tax revenues. Those who can, those that are making good money [in the] public or private sector need to contribute to the economy," she said.
"Secondly, to have a fairer distribution of the pressures by moving subsidies only towards the people who really need it. It shouldn't be that the wealthy benefit from subsidies,” she said.
Earlier, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan has already gone bankrupt adding that IMF bailout was not the solution to its problems.
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