Pakistan Needs Fundamental Tax Reforms to Meet Economic Goals: Ahsan Iqbal

• Ahsan Iqbal says Pakistan must reform its tax system to mobilise resources and support development and drive economic growth.
• The 11 national economic missions under Uraan Pakistan aim to transform the country into a $1 trillion economy by 2035.
• The planning minister warns that shrinking development funds and slow implementation could undermine Pakistan’s economic transformation.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has called for fundamental reforms in Pakistan’s tax system, saying greater domestic resource mobilisation is essential to finance development and achieve the country’s long-term economic targets.

Chairing a meeting on the national economic missions under Uraan Pakistan, tax reforms and digitalisation, Iqbal warned that Pakistan would struggle to become a $1 trillion economy by 2035 if it continued operating under the existing system.

He said conventional methods and a business-as-usual approach would not deliver the scale of transformation required to meet the target. Pakistan must instead accelerate decision-making, expand its gross domestic product and transition towards a technology-driven economy.

According to the minister, the 11 national economic missions introduced under Uraan Pakistan provide a roadmap for transforming the country into a $1 trillion economy over the next decade. Achieving that ambition, however, would require the government and its institutions to operate at “digital speed” rather than move at a snail’s pace.

Iqbal also expressed concern over the steady decline in the development budget. He said launching new initiatives had become increasingly difficult when the government was already struggling to complete ongoing projects.

The existing budgetary structure leaves limited room for increasing development expenditure, he noted, making comprehensive tax reforms necessary to generate additional revenue and create fiscal space for priority projects.

The planning minister cautioned that without meaningful structural changes, Pakistan would remain unable to mobilise the resources needed for sustained growth, while its broader goal of economic transformation would become increasingly difficult to achieve.