Pakistan has planned to establish a National Digital Commission to ensure digitization of its economy and paperless governance, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday, citing State Minister for Information Technology (IT) Shaza Fatima Khawaja.
Pakistan, which faced an economic meltdown in recent months, made rigorous efforts to introduce structural reforms under a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, which ended in April and helped the South Asian country avert a sovereign default last year.
In May, Pakistan signed an agreement with McKinsey and Company for the digitalization of its tax collection system after the IMF suggested strengthening public finances, broadening the existing tax base and privatizing loss-making state enterprises as part of reforms.
Khawaja said the new commission would be headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif keeping its importance in view, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“It will not only improve governance and tax collection efficiency but it will also smooth the inter-ministerial coordination,” she was quoted as saying.
The minister said paperless governance was “vital” to speed up the government operations and it would help remove procedural bottlenecks.
In July, Pakistan reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a new $7 billion loan deal, aimed at strengthening fiscal and monetary policy as well as reforms to broaden the tax base, strengthen competition, secure a level playing field for investment, enhance human capital, and scale up social protection through increased generosity and coverage in a major welfare program.
Pakistan wants to collect 13 trillion rupees ($44 billion) in taxes — 40 percent more than the last fiscal year — according to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. The government also aims to increase the number of taxpayers from a meager 5 million.
