Pakistan In Focus - Pakistan and IMF talk.

Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday failed to break impasse on a new contentious issue of permanently imposing a Rs3.82 per unit debt surcharge to recover Rs284 billion more from electricity consumers.

Against the government's decision to impose the new surcharge for eight months (March-October 2023), the IMF has asked the government to keep the levy as a permanent fixture in electricity bills until the government settles the Rs800 billion circular debt parked in a company.

Meanwhile, confusion prevailed on Wednesday when the finance ministry took the position different from what the Power Division had communicated to the IMF...