Centre, provinces working closely on fiscal, taxation issues: Dr Hafeez.

ISLAMABAD -- Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said the federal and provincial governments are in 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 International Monitoring Fund (IMF) programme.

IMF Mission Chief Ramirez Rigo Ernesto, Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra, Balochistan Finance Minister Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, Federal Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, Sindh Special Finance Secretary Baqir Abbas Naqvi, senior officials from the Finance Division and local IMF officials were also present on the occasion. Dr Hafeez Shaikh pointed out that tax harmonisation, as well other fiscal issues within the constitutional framework, was a challenging process but continuous dialogue and coordination between the centre and the provinces and among the provinces themselves had resulted in better budget and expenditure management. He added that 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...