ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Finance Division are making preparations for upcoming annual meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB).
A well-placed source in the FBR told this scribe that tax reforms, money laundering and few such other issues would be at the top of agenda of the meeting with IMF and WB on October 10-12 in the Washington D.C. “However, current status of implementation of IMF programme, WB programme, the future course of action and plan by the government to fulfill IMF and WB conditions will be discussed in the meeting,” the source further said. The concerned wings of FBR were preparing list of officials for the said meeting.
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Another source at the Finance Division disclosed that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would lead Pakistani delegation comprising FBR officials to the US. However, the FBR has not finalised its team for the said consultations so far. The source said that Pakistani team would apprise IMF and WB about achieved targets by the government regarding implementation of programme and conditions of the said financial assistance programme.
Moreover, the source said that the meeting would also overview the action taken to amend and activate Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010. Both the IMF and WB had asked the government to utilise expertise of Asia /Pacific Group on Money Laundering of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the preparation and implementation of comparative study on anti money laundering issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had blacklisted Pakistan on the issue of anti-money laundering issue in 2012. The FATF is an organisation of 35 member countries across the globe on the anti-money laundering subject. Similarly, more than 40 countries are members of the Asia /Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
