Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Sunday that the government had requested and facilitated the assessment presented in a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that highlighted financial irregularities in Pakistan.
The publication of the document, a precondition for the IMF’s approval for disbursing The next $1.2 billion loan tranche in December found that institutional weaknesses, lack of transparency in state functions, preferential treatment for select businesses, and inefficiencies in public sector transactions were major constraints to growth. He also called for a series of reforms over the next three to six months to help lift the growth rate to 5-6.5 percent over the next five years.
The report sparked criticism of the government and opposition parties called for an investigation into the “worst financial scandal in Pakistan’s history.”
However, Aurangzeb said during a press conference in Islamabad today that the government itself had requested and facilitated the assessment to strengthen institutional reforms.
He argued that the report recognized significant progress in sectors such as taxation and governance, and that many of its priority recommendations “were already in process.”
The Finance Minister further said that the government was committed to implementing the remaining recommendations as part of broader institutional reforms essential to sustaining Pakistan’s economic recovery.
More to follow
