The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised Pakistan to stop giving special treatment to parliamentarians’ development projects and bring them under the regular Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), according to a report by The Express Tribune.
The IMF said that treating these schemes separately weakens efficiency, transparency, and affordability. In its upcoming Governance and Corruption Diagnosis Assessment, the organisation stressed that small community welfare projects must pass through proper approval procedures instead of being cleared by the Steering Committee on SDGs Achievements Programme, which currently bypasses detailed scrutiny.
This year, the government set aside Rs70 billion for parliamentarians’ schemes outside the PSDP. The report noted that such off-budget funding leads to inefficiency and misuse of resources. To address this, it also recommended capping new projects under PSDP to only 10% of the total allocation to reduce pressure on limited finances.
The IMF further suggested that the Ministry of Finance publish the Budget Strategy Paper in January each year, with updated macroeconomic and fiscal data. It also called for avoiding mid-year budget changes without parliament’s approval and proposed keeping a contingency pool for emergencies.
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To strengthen transparency, the IMF has urged changes to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) law, removing special privileges for state-owned enterprises and charitable bodies in government procurement.
The recommendations come amid repeated IMF concerns over Pakistan’s reliance on supplementary grants and weak public finance management.
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