ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has scheduled a meeting of its executive board on Dec 8 to approve immediate disbursement of $1.2 billion to Pakistan under two concurrent programmes.
Pakistan and the IMF reached a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) on the second review of the $7bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of the $1.4bn Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF) on Oct 14. Under the SLA, Pakistan will receive $1bn in disbursements under the EFF and $200m under the RSF. The $1.2bn disbursement is expected to land in Pakistan’s account on Dec 9, bringing total disbursements under the two arrangements to about $3.3bn.
The executive board would hold two separate meetings on Dec 8 to approve SLAs with Pakistan and Somalia, according to the IMF’s executive board calendar.
Before the board meeting, Pakistan is expected to publish much-delayed Governance & Corruption Diagnostic (GCD) Assessment Report prepared by a technical mission of the IMF, which is one of the key structural benchmarks (SB) under the EFF.
Islamabad to publish governance and corruption report before executive board meets next month
The benchmark deadline was end-July, which was later reset to end-August, and then again to end-October, but remains unmet so far, owing mainly to technical and factual disagreements between the Pakistan authorities and the IMF’s expert team. Having addressed those points, Pakistan had assured the fund that it would publish the report before the board meeting, an official said, adding that it was a very comprehensive exercise conducted by the technical and legal teams of the IMF in consultation with other global organisations like the OECD and FATF.
The official said there had been a series of back-and-forth exchanges of draft papers and discussions with various Pakistani authorities, including the anti-corruption watchdogs, the superior judiciary, and investigation agencies, as well as the ministries of finance and law, to ensure the “best outcome” of the international expertise, which covers more than 100 rules.
The two sides are believed to have discussed reducing the time lag between the publication of the GCD Assessment Report and the resultant governance action plan based on its recommendations for reform measures to address critical governance vulnerabilities.
An IMF scoping mission had visited Pakistan early this year and had meetings at the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Law and Justice Division, Auditor General of Pakistan, parliamentarians, national accountability bureau, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan and produced a comprehensive report identifying gaps and weaknesses in public finance management, tax system, and AGPR’s efforts to identify loopholes.
Under the existing governance mechanism, the majority of government officers have not been disclosing the assets of themselves and their family members to the tax authorities or the Establishment Division, and there was an insufficient institutional mechanism for accountability. On top of that, many institutions, including regulatory bodies, enjoyed exemptions from such scrutiny and disclosure requirements. No wonder there have been widespread reports of corruption across the bureaucratic and political landscape, and Pakistan has ranked high on various international corruption perception indexes.
The IMF has been pressing for data-based red flags, due diligence, safeguard mechanisms, and guidelines against corruption and misuse of public offices, which have resulted in sub-optimal decision-making and compromised the country’s business and growth potential. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had also identified a series of weaknesses and made recommendations to address them.
The fund had acknowledged Pakistan’s performance on financial and macroeconomic sectors under the EFF, entrenching macroeconomic stability and rebuilding market confidence. “The recovery remains on track, with the FY25 current account recording a surplus — the first in 14 years, the fiscal primary balance surpassing the programme target, inflation remaining contained, external buffers strengthening, and financial conditions improving as sovereign spreads have narrowed significantly”, the IMF had announced on reaching SLA.
It had, however, highlighted that flood-related losses that affected nearly 7 million people, caused over 1,000 deaths, and severely damaged housing, public infrastructure, and agricultural land weighed on the outlook, particularly of the agriculture sector, bringing down the projected FY26 GDP to about 3.25-3.5pc. “The floods underscore Pakistan’s high vulnerability to natural disasters and substantial climate-related risks, and the continuing need to build climate resilience”, it said, adding the authorities’ commitments under EFF and RSF were strong to maintain sound and prudent macroeconomic policies while advancing ongoing structural reforms.
Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2025
