Pakistan finance bill proposes raising goods and services tax to 18%

Pakistan laid a supplementary finance bill before parliament on Wednesday, proposing to raise the goods and services tax (GST)to 18% from 17% to help raise 170 billion rupees ($639 million) in extra revenue during the fiscal year ending July.
The country has held talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of critical bailout funds, and with roughly enough reserves to meet only three weeks of imports, it is looking to increase revenue despite multi-decade high inflation…