IMF - International Monetary Fund Program Updates

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Govt partially meets 19 IMF actions​

Three key reforms delayed as procurement rules await cabinet approval

Shahbaz Rana
August 21, 2026

ISLAMABAD: Despite being a top priority for both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the government managed to complete only four out of 19 actions due by end-June, which the global lender had identified to improve weak economic governance.

Proceedings of the Economic Governance Systems Committee – one of three ministerial bodies tasked with implementing the IMF action plan – show that only four actions were fully met during the January-June 2026 period.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who heads the committee, chaired its fourth meeting this week and directed officials to expedite progress on the remaining action points.

According to top government officials, of the 19 priority and complementary actions assigned to the committee for completion by June, 12 were only partially implemented, while three were delayed.

 

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The IMF had highlighted serious governance gaps in its Pakistan Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment. To address these vulnerabilities, which can foster corrupt practices, the prime minister launched a 142-point reform agenda in December last year, aimed at strengthening institutions and the rule of law over three years.

Of the 142 actions, Iqbal's committee was responsible for overseeing 59 actions. For the first six months, 19 fell under the Economic Governance Systems committee.

During the launching ceremony at the PM's House, Sharif said under his governance plan, there were 59 priority actions and 83 complementary actions that would be implemented over three years.

However, performance against the initial targets remained weak. Most of the 19 actions due by June, largely considered easier tasks involving regulatory changes and publication of reports, were not completed.

Only four actions were declared complete: formation of a methodology working group, review of international best practices in judicial governance, some legal clarifications, and revisions to civil servants' asset declaration rules.

 

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Partially completed actions

The government partially implemented a key reform to approve the new Public Procurement Rules 2025 by removing preferential treatment for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in public contracts.

Currently, contracts are often awarded to SOEs without competitive bidding, despite their limited capacity and without independent price discovery. Several infrastructure projects, including the NIH underpass in Islamabad, have faced delays under such arrangements.

A finance ministry official said the PM's Office has endorsed the draft rules, which are now with the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases (CCLC) awaiting cabinet approval. Revising these rules in line with IMF requirements would mark a significant shift from the existing practice of awarding multi-billion-rupee contracts without open competition.

Another IMF condition required an assessment of systemic strengths and weaknesses in the judicial system, particularly in economic dispute resolution. Officials said this had been partially met, with reviews of relevant laws, policies and reports still underway.

Similarly, a working group tasked with examining the causes of litigation delays and case backlogs has only partially completed its work.

 

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Finance minister kicks off talks with visiting IMF mission​

Khaleeq Kiani
September 29, 2026



Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb holds a kick-off meeting with a visiting staff mission of the International Monetary Fund, on Sept 29, 2026. — X/Financegovpk

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb held a kick-off meeting on Tuesday with a visiting staff mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF mission, led by Iva Petrova, is in Islamabad for the fourth review of Pakistan’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement and the third review of the $1.4bn Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

Aurangzeb, in a virtual meeting, briefed the IMF team on the latest macroeconomic indicators, improvements in credit rating and overall investment climate amid a challenging outlook emanating from prolonged Iran conflict.

On the successful conclusion of talks, Pakistan will be entitled to disbursement of about $1.2bn under the two programmes: $1bn under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF by the end of October or early November, but may require waivers from the IMF’s executive board for slippages on structural benchmarks.

 

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The authorities are in continuous breach of structural benchmarks regarding the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) law that was originally missed in March.

The federal government already notified new procurement rules on Monday, two days ahead of the deadline, ie, Sept 30.

The SWF law is part of the discussions with the visiting IMF team. Authorities are in breach of an end-March 2026 structural benchmark on amendments to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act to adopt governance mechanisms and safeguards for seven state-owned enterprises (SOEs), involving an asset portfolio of about $8bn.

Most of them are blue-chip entities listed on the stock exchange but remain outside normal reporting requirements. They include OGDCL, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Mari Petroleum, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Govt Holdings, Pakistan Development Fund, and the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project. The amendments are pending parliamentary approval.


The IMF team has been in Pakistan since Sept 23. It spent the initial days in Karachi for engagements with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders.

The staff mission has so far held engagements with officials from SBP, the finance ministry, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Establishment Division, and the finance secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

 

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IMF-linked plan to boost local currency bond market unveiled​

Khaleeq Kiani
September 30, 2026

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday announced that the general public would be allowed to trade government securities, including treasury bills and bonds, through the stock market as part of efforts to improve compliance under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme currently being reviewed by a visiting staff mission for the disbursement of around $1.2 billion.

The announcement of a strategic action plan for development of the Local Currency Bond Market (LCBM) followed a customary kick-off meeting between Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and an IMF staff mission led by Iva Petrova.

The mission held discussions with the authorities on power-sector developments, privatisation, petroleum-sector issues, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the automobile sector, particularly the medium-term automobile development plan.

The finance minister is reported to have briefed the mission on the latest macroeconomic indicators, improvements in credit ratings and the overall investment climate amid a challenging outlook stemming from the prolonged Iran conflict, including its impact on revenues.

On successful conclusion of the talks, Pakistan would be entitled to disbursement of about $1.2bn under the two programmes — $1bn under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $200m under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) — by the end of October or early November. However, the country may require waivers from the IMF executive board for slippages on structural benchmarks.

The finance ministry said announcement of the strategic plan for the LCBM by Sept 30 was required under the IMF programme.

 

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The joint study noted that Pakistan had built much of the institutional framework of an emerging LCBM, but market outcomes remained closer to those of a developing market.

Development was uneven across six pillars, with money market and financial infrastructure foundations comparatively advanced, while primary-market predictability, secondary-market liquidity and the legal and regulatory framework remained below the practices of larger emerging markets. The narrow investor base was identified as the biggest gap.

Therefore, the plan seeks to develop a liquid, transparent and diversified LCBM to reduce the cost and risk of government financing over the medium term, support effective monetary-policy transmission and provide a reliable benchmark yield curve for private-sector financing.

It pursues five strategic objectives, including strengthening institutional capacity and coordination, ensuring clear ownership and accountability, and making primary issuance more predictable and market-based through a published benchmark policy and a well-informed medium-term debt strategy.

It also seeks to build executable secondary-market liquidity and a functioning private securities-financing (or repo) market, broaden the investor base across institutional, retail and foreign investors, modernise market infrastructure and remove legal and tax impediments to trading and secured funding.

Under the plan, eligible bank customers would be allowed to trade exchange-listed government securities through their banks under the supervision of State Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Stock Exchange and Central Depository Company.