Centre-province dialogue on taxation, fiscal management a continuous process: Dr. Hafeez.

ISLAMABAD -- Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said the federal and the provincial governments are in a continuous dialogue to improve coordination and create harmony on issues related to fiscal and budget management, multiplicity of tax rates and reconciliation of input adjustment.

He made this observation while chairing a meeting at the Finance Division to review the implementation of fiscal policies in the provinces under the IMF Programme.

Visiting IMF Mission Chief Mr. Ramirez Rigo Ernesto, Punjab Finance Minister Makhdum Hashim Jawan Bakht, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra, Balochistan Finance Minister Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, Federal Secretary Finance Naveed Kamran Baloch, Special Secretary Finance, Government of Sindh, Baqir Abbas Naqvi and other senior officials from the Finance Division and local IMF officials were also present.

Dr Hafeez Shaikh pointed out that harmonisation of taxation and other fiscal issues within the constitutional framework was a challenging process but a continuous dialogue and coordination between the centre and the provinces and between the provinces themselves had resulted in better budget and expenditure management while definitional issues related to what constituted a service and what rate of tax applied to it in different regions were also being resolved in a spirit of mutual understanding and accommodation.

The provincial ministers from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan as well as officials from Sindh also...