ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to provide the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance certificate with regard to the government’s corona package.
According to sources privy to this development, the IMF has written a letter to the Finance Ministry regarding AML compliance certificate for Rs1.2 trillion ‘corona package’ announced by the government to control the outbreak of coronavirus.
The Washington-based lending organization had approved for Pakistan a Rapid Finance Instrument (RFI) equivalent to SDR 1015.5 million ($1.386 billion, 50pc of quota) to meet the urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is pertinent to mention that the prime minister’s Rs1.24 trillion (around $8 billion) fiscal stimulus package for Covid-19 control included emergency response, support to business and relief to citizens.
Under the package, the government had given Rs90bn to National Disaster Management Authority, Rs50bn for medical equipment/incentives for workers, Rs100 billion for emergency provisioning/funds and Rs15bn tax relief on food & health items.
Similarly, the package also included Rs570bn relief to citizens, of which Rs200bn as relief to daily wage workers, Rs150bn Relief to vulnerable families & panagah, Rs70bn on petrol/diesel, Rs50bn funding to utility stores, Rs100bn power & gas subsidy/payment deferral measures, Rs480bn support to business & economy, Rs280bn payment to farmers (wheat), Rs100bn relief to exporters and Rs100bn fo relief to SMEs & agriculture sector.
Earlier, it was reported that the PTI government had failed to spend even half of the funds it had announced to offset the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the poor and smaller businesses.
The finance ministry spokesman denied receiving any letter from IMF in this regard.
