Khawaja Asif "not happy" with PM Shehbaz over IMF-dictated budget

Defence Minister Khwaja Asif expressed fears of the risk to the country’s sovereignty due to the interference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in preparation of the budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.

He disclosed his concerns in an interview with senior journalist, Hamid Mir, on a private news channel.

The PML-N leader took aim at the global loan lender, terming it as a ‘modern form of colonialism’.

“Would it be a risk to the compromise country’s sovereignty?” the host questioned Asif.

"Yes it would be, but unfortunately, the government did not have the opportunity to bring the economy in the right direction, and the initiatives we took over the past two years increased the burden on the common man," the federal minister responded.

The ruling party representative said there was a lot of pressure from the IMF on the government regarding the budget.

“I have been protesting on it for 15 to 20 days,” he added.

"Until the country becomes economically independent, makes a budget on its own, and becomes able to make decisions, it will not be independent."

Earlier, the minister had also criticized the tax-laden budget on the micro-blogging website X.

“A change in the tax regime on exporters will lead to a reduction rather than an increase in taxes. Exporters will set up companies abroad and will export through these direct shipping companies, and under-invoicing will be done,” he wrote in a post.

“A culture of dishonesty will flourish. Exports will decrease instead of increasing. When governments abandon business-friendly policies and take such measures, it causes loss instead of profit,” Asif added.

ایکسپورٹرز پہ ٹیکس کی رجیم میں تبدیلی ٹیکس بڑھانے کی بجاۓ کمی کا باعث بنے گی۔ ایکسپورٹرز بیرون ملک کمپنیاں بنا لیں گے اور ڈائریکٹ بھیجنے کے ان کمپنیوں کے ذریعے ایکسپورٹ کرینگے انڈر انوائسنگ ھوگی ۔ بد دیانتی کا کلچر فروغ پاۓ گا۔ ایکسپورٹ بڑھنے کی بجاۓ کم ھو گی۔ حکومتیں جب بزنس…

— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) June 29, 2024

Asif stressed boosting tax revenue, and said, “We should strengthen a tax culture first and reduce FBR corruption, Otherwise, the volume of taxation will be more than the tax.”

The Defence Minister also emphasised the need to eliminate corruption.

He claimed that the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were examples of corruption where hundreds of billions were embezzled.