The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Syed Naveed Qamar, on Wednesday termed the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) graft report an “indictment of the government and parliament”, prompting the finance minister to commit that a formal action plan would be submitted this month to meet IMF conditions.
As per news reports, the NA committee met shortly after the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, which had also scheduled a briefing on the IMF document. Aurangzeb did not attend the Senate meeting, where Additional Secretary External Finance Saira Najeeb outlined the report’s contents.
Senators condemned corruption and called for firm action, noting that the document’s conclusions concerned both government and bureaucracy. The Senate committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of the finance minister, the finance secretary and the State Bank governor, and directed them to attend the next meeting.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, however, told the sNA panel that the IMF’s findings should not be seen as an indictment of the current administration. He said that an action plan addressing the IMF’s priority recommendations would be submitted by December 31, in line with programme requirements.
The IMF has identified governance and corruption challenges across seven key areas and issued 92 recommendations, including 15 that it considers essential for reforming critical sectors. Responding to questions on whether the government delayed releasing the report, the minister said the IMF had shared the draft close to the deadline, leaving limited time for consultation with departments.
He said the judiciary had agreed to prepare a plan to reduce its case backlog, including commercial disputes. Priority measures highlighted in the report include publishing declarations of senior civil servants and introducing risk-based verification. Officials told the committee that asset declarations for officers would be made public from next year.
The report also stresses limiting in-year budget adjustments without parliamentary approval and creating contingency reserves. The finance secretary claimed these measures were already being implemented, but Naveed Qamar disagreed, saying the ministry should seek prior consent from the National Assembly even for technical supplementary grants, which have become a key tool for adjusting expenditures.
Aurangzeb said the IMF had asked Pakistan to strengthen the Federal Board of Revenue’s organisational structure, reduce autonomy of field offices and improve accountability. It also wants improvements in investigation processes, stronger money laundering reporting and enhanced asset recovery. Other recommendations include merit-based selection of oversight body heads, a corruption action plan for high-risk agencies and annual progress reporting.
The minister said the government was committed to ending preferential treatment for state-owned enterprises in contract awards, a long-standing IMF concern.
During the Senate briefing, the additional secretary said the government had taken steps to address weaknesses, including introducing faceless appraisement in Customs to reduce human discretion in tax assessment. She said work was under way to digitise sales tax processes, monitor production in tax-evasion-prone sectors and apply Compliance Risk Management systems using integrated data from 26 agencies to improve audit targeting.
She added that the appellate tribunal had undergone restructuring to reduce its backlog, with more benches appointed and a more transparent selection process.
Aurangzeb informed lawmakers that Pakistan was not the only country reviewed by the IMF; the governance assessments have also covered countries including Congo, Peru, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Haiti. Thirteen nations, including Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, opted for voluntary assessment.
The NA committee directed the finance ministry to ensure compliance with IMF recommendations and to present the action plan on time.
