Pakistan has declined an offer from the International Monetary Fund to send a technical assistance mission aimed at helping implement 142 governance and anti-corruption reforms linked to the country’s $7 billion bailout program.
According to Express Tribune, the offer was reiterated during the ongoing review of the bailout package. However, officials from the Finance Ministry informed the IMF that Pakistan has sufficient internal capacity to carry out the reforms without external technical support.
The reform agenda includes 59 priority actions and 83 additional measures that the government has committed to implement over the next three years. These steps were developed following the IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment report and were formally unveiled by Shehbaz Sharif.
Despite rejecting the IMF mission, the government has already sought support from the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office to help implement parts of the action plan. The reform process is being overseen by a government team that includes Musharraf Rasool Cyan.
The corruption diagnostic report itself was released about two months late and only after the IMF made it a condition for approving loan tranches worth Rs. 1.2 billion under the bailout arrangement.
The government has formed three committees to oversee governance reforms related to economic management, tax administration, and anti corruption and anti money laundering efforts. The committees are chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the finance minister, and the law minister to ensure coordination and guide the reform process.
An assessment by the Global Think Tank Network said the IMF diagnostic report was strong in analysis but pointed to weak enforcement mechanisms and diluted politically sensitive reforms.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has committed to strengthening money laundering investigations, improving suspicious transaction reporting, and increasing transparency by publishing asset declarations of senior civil servants from 2026 with risk-based verification.
The discussions between Pakistan and the IMF are currently being held virtually after the IMF review mission left the country due to security concerns.
During the talks, the IMF also asked the government to publish quarterly progress reports on the reform plan. Officials indicated that they may instead release reports twice a year on the ministry’s website.