Pakistan is set to introduce new laws to bring transparency in the declaration of foreign assets after the Panama leaks scandal.
Pakistan is set to introduce new laws to bring transparency in the declaration of foreign assets after the Panama leaks scandal.
Finance minister Ishaq Dar said the government had started exercises from April 21, and with consultation of the State Bank, the Federal Board of Revenue and Securities and Excha-nge Commission of Pakistan “we are in process to devise a law to bring transparency in the disclosure of Pakistani assets parked abroad.”
He said the FBR would hold important meeting with Swiss authorities in Bonn on June 23-24 to get access to the Pakistani assets worth $200 billion in Swiss banks.
Mr Dar also said government is conducting a study to give an opportunity to Pakistanis to pay one-time tax for declaring offshore companies and secret bank accounts in other countries. Pakistan is expected to get membership of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development global forum that would ensure exchange of information regarding tax evasion, he added. To a question about loans, Mr Dar said the government has taken loans worth of $15.5 billion during three years and it repaid $ 10 billion against the loans taken by previous governments.
Net impact of the new loans is only $ 5.5 billion, he added.
The minister said new budget would help in increasing GDP growth, generating job opportunities, alleviating poverty and improving lot of the common man. He hoped that measures announced in the budget would give boost to agriculture to help it contribute its share to the GDP.
Mr Dar said the defence allocations had been increased by 11 percent despite constraints, adding operation Zarb-e-Azb was moving towards its final round and its successful conclusion would help attract foreign direct investment. He said the country suffered huge losses of $ 118 billion during war on terror. “The previous government made poor bargaining on war on terror as they should take commitment from the world to recover the losses occurred due to the war,” he maintained. The minister said the government was according priority to the construction of Western Route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as per understanding with political leadership.
