ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pressing Pakistan to make the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) fully transparent, create a central registry of state-owned land and the entities holding it, conduct performance assessments of judges, publish bureaucrats’ asset declarations, and remove the Finance Secretary from the board of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Pakistan is obligated not only to disclose these recommendations, but to implement them — part of the much-anticipated Governance and Corruption Diagnostic (GCD) report prepared by the IMF following extensive consultations with the government, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Auditor General of Pakistan and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The Ministry of Finance has been reluctant to publish the report — while it cannot legally block its release, it has repeatedly delayed it. Originally due by the end of July, the deadline has been extended several times. Pakistan must publish the report ahead of the IMF board meeting that will determine whether a $1.2 billion disbursement is approved. A senior ministry official declined to commit to a date.
According to an informed source, the IMF has demanded enhanced transparency of strategic investments by requiring SIFC to issue its first annual report that details all facilitated deals and any concessions granted. The council must also publish the relevant provisions of the Board of Investment Act that vest it with regulatory-exemption or compliance-relief powers. The GCD also requires reform of the public-procurement system — specifically eliminating preferential treatment for state-owned enterprises and restricting direct contracting arrangements. The government is further mandated to establish a central asset-registry covering all state-held land, identify the legal title-holders, and publish a rule-based process for land transfers both among government entities and between state and private parties. Under the terms of the report, the Ministry of Law and Justice must develop a methodology to evaluate the performance of courts and judges under its purview, and publish the results of the first monitoring exercise covering all federal administrative tribunals and special courts handling commercial matters. The reforms also call for standardised appointment criteria and fixed-tenure arrangements for judges and tribunal members.
For senior public servants, the GCD proposes stronger integrity frameworks: mandatory publication of asset-declarations starting in 2026, along with risk-based verification of those declarations. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) must publish data on corruption complaints, investigations of officials, sanctions applied, and cases referred to law-enforcement agencies. In parallel, an internal-affairs unit reporting directly to the FBR chairman must be established to enforce integrity policies and investigate staff conduct.
In tax-policy reform, the creation of a dedicated Tax Policy Office must be finalised, ensuring separation of tax-policy from tax-collection functions within the FBR. This office must publish a medium-term tax-simplification strategy aimed at reducing tax-rate schedules, special regimes, excessive withholding and advance-tax exemptions. Another major recommendation is an amendment to the State Bank Act, under which the Finance Secretary would be removed from the SBP board. The amendment would further require publication of the reasons for removal of the Governor, Deputy Governors and non-executive directors if these occurred.
This correspondent submitted questions to the Finance Ministry spokesperson to get his views on the above-mentioned content. The spokesperson said he needed to consult relevant officials and requested one day to respond but didn’t provide an answer despite a follow-up reminder.
