IMF Chief Says Pakistan Needs to Tax the Rich and Protect the Poor

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said that Fund has asked Pakistan to raise tax revenues and have a fairer distribution of pressures by moving subsidies only toward people who really need them.

Speaking to DW at the Munich Security Conference, Georgieva said that her heart goes out to the people of Pakistan who have been devastated by last year’s flood.

She stressed that IMF is asking Pakistan to take steps that it needs to take to be able to function as a country and not to get into a ‘dangerous place’ where its debt needs to be restructured.

Elaborating on the need to enhance tax revenues, she said that those who can and those who are making good money be it the public sector or private sector need to contribute to the economy.

She said that it shouldn’t be that the wealthy benefit from the subsidies, it should be the poor who benefit from them. She emphasized that the IMF is very clear that it wants the poor people of Pakistan to be protected.

In a separate comment, Georgieva said that money collected from the rich in the form of taxes should be spent on those who need the government’s help. She said that it is a very compassionate and reasonable request.

She questioned why the rich in Pakistan should benefit from the subsidies and why rich people and businesses should not pay taxes when the country is facing such tremendous challenges.