- PM Shehbaz directed FBR to strategy IMF on contraceptives.
- No quick chance of discount in costs after IMF refusal.
- Reduction can encourage smuggling to complicate enforcement: lender.
ISLAMABAD: Regardless of having one of many highest inhabitants progress charges on the earth and clear directives from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) has refused to grant permission to abolish the 18% Common Gross sales Tax (GST) on contraceptives instantly, The Information reported on Thursday.
In consequence, condoms will stay costly within the nation. The IMF has flatly rejected the Federal Board of Income’s (FBR) proposal and acknowledged that such points can solely be mentioned within the upcoming finances.
Prime official sources advised the publication that the IMF has outrightly turned down the FBR’s request to withdraw GST on contraceptives, successfully blocking the prime minister’s August 2025 instruction to make contraception merchandise inexpensive and extensively accessible throughout the nation.
There may be, due to this fact, no quick chance of decreasing the costs of condoms, regardless of Pakistan’s surging inhabitants.
They stated the prime minister had directed the FBR in August 2025 to take up the matter with the IMF, however months of engagement yielded no breakthrough. Throughout a latest assembly on the PM Workplace, it was disclosed that the FBR had didn’t safe the IMF’s consent regardless of repeated makes an attempt.
Based on officers, the FBR formally approached the IMF’s headquarters in Washington by way of electronic mail, searching for deliberation on abolishing GST on contraceptives.
The FBR estimated the income impression of the proposed aid at Rs400 to 600 million, however the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Division confirmed little urge for food for the proposal.
A digital assembly was subsequently held, during which Pakistani authorities conveyed the prime minister’s want to abolish GST on condoms with quick impact. The IMF aspect rejected the demand, stating that no tax aid could possibly be granted halfway by means of the fiscal yr, significantly when the FBR was already struggling to satisfy its revised income goal of Rs13.979 trillion — down from Rs14.13 trillion — for the fiscal yr 2025–26.
IMF employees within the closed-door dialogue made it clear that any such tax aid might solely be thought of within the subsequent finances for 2026-27.
The Pakistani aspect additionally raised proposals to cut back GST on sanitary pads and child diapers. Nonetheless, officers stated the IMF strongly opposed these measures as effectively, citing the big income stakes concerned, significantly in child diapers the place the tax base runs near Rs100 billion.
The IMF additional argued that granting tax aid on contraceptives or diapers might complicate enforcement for the FBR by encouraging smuggling of this stuff, the sources added.
As there is no such thing as a formally notified spokesperson on the FBR, the formal place on the IMF’s refusal couldn’t be obtained.
Pakistan’s inhabitants progress charge at the moment stands at a staggering 2.55% — among the many highest globally — with practically six million individuals added to the inhabitants yearly, underscoring the widening hole between acknowledged coverage intent and monetary decision-making.
