On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) collapsed just minutes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared a 10 percent ‘super-tax’ on large-scale manufacturers and industries in his “bid to relieve the general public of tax pressures”. In response to the imposition of Super Tax on industries, at 12 pm, the benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 2,055 points or 4.8 percent. The trading in the stock market was halted for 45 minutes.
Government Imposes Super Tax to Address the Economic Woes in Pakistan
The stock market was trading at 41,198 points as of 3 pm. As per the PSX Rulebook, if the KSE 100 index drops 4.5 percent or more, trading is halted for 45 minutes. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today announced a super-tax of 10 percent on large-scale manufacturers and industries in the country in order to address the economic woes.
The prime minister has stated that industries related to steel, cement, sugar, oil and gas, fertilizers, energy and terminal, and textile will face a 10 percent super tax. In addition, he said that the super tax will also be imposed on the banking and cigarette sectors.
“Teams will be formed to collect tax after the passage of the budget bill,” the prime minister said and added that the tax will be levied for a short period of time. He further shared that those earning an annual income of Rs150 million will be taxed one percent, followed by two and three percent taxes on those having annual income of Rs200 million and Rs250 million respectively.
Government is Now Confident to Close a Staff-Level Agreement With IMF
Furthermore, concerning the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, PM stated, “If the IMF doesn’t put forward any other conditions, I am hopeful that coalition govt would reach a staff-level agreement with them soon.” It emerged earlier that Pakistan and IMF have reached a ‘deal’ for the release of a US$1 billion tranche after the latter provided its nod to the budgetary adjustments for the fiscal year 2022-23.
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