Pakistan Hikes Tax On Luxury Goods And Services To Get IMF Deal

Pakistan's parliament gave the go-ahead on February 20 for the government to raise taxes on a raft of luxury imports and services in a bid to unlock the next tranche of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. Faced with critically low foreign-exchange reserves, the government has already halted most imports -- apart from food and pharmaceuticals -- but hopes to boost revenue with the tax hike. Years of financial mismanagement and political instability have pushed Pakistan's economy to the brink of collapse, exacerbated by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that submerged a third of the country in 2022.