Pakistan has met all the prerequisite conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the latest hike in the prices of natural gas.

The IMF team is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on November 2 where the government team will hold negotiations with the global lender for the release of $700 million after the first review of the country’s current $3 billion standby arrangement.

In this regard, the caretaker government has achieved the tax collection target, hiked the petroleum levy on petrol and increased the price of gas.

The Federal Board of Revenue has collected Rs2,041 billion during the first quarter (July-September) of the current financial year against the assigned target of Rs1,978 billion, exceeding the target by Rs63 billion.

The tax collector did not give any tax amnesty scheme during the first quarter, and collected Rs222 billion in levies, while the basic electricity tariff has also been increased by Rs7.5 per unit.

Additionally, gas tariffs were hiked by around 200% from November 1, while the circular debt in the power sector also declined from the mark set by the IMF.

The government did not release any supplementary grant in the first quarter of the financial year, and the petroleum levy on petrol was raised to a ceiling of Rs60 per litre.