Islamabad (Commerce Desk): Pakistan has once again declined the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) offer to send a technical assistance mission aimed at addressing gaps in governance and the anti-corruption framework.
Sources said that during a review meeting of the $7 billion bailout package, the IMF repeated its offer. However, the Ministry of Finance stated that the government has the internal capacity to implement its 142-point action plan.
It was noted that the IMF had previously expressed interest in providing technical support to strengthen governance and tackle rising corruption challenges in Pakistan. However, the government is already receiving assistance from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for implementing the action plan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had launched a reform program consisting of 59 priority and 83 supplementary measures to meet IMF conditions, which is scheduled for implementation over the next three years.
The government released the Corruption Diagnostic Report nearly two months late, even though the IMF had made it a precondition for approving a $1.2 billion tranche.
Meanwhile, a recent report by a global think tank network described the IMF assessment as analytically strong and unusually clear, while also noting that some key issues had been overlooked.
