IMF Demands 174 Legislative Amendments Across Various Laws, Formal Review Talks Set to Begin, Says Finance Secretary
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has appealed for 174 legislative changes in a range of countries’ legislation, covering better institutional governance, the rationalisation of subsidies and structural economic targets.
Briefing the Standing Committee on Finance of the National Assembly, Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal provided a comprehensive briefing on the program targets being implemented and the negotiations at hand.
He said formal negotiations with the IMF’s visiting mission will begin next week, focusing on key structural conditionals in both the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The Finance Secretary briefed the legislators on the progress of the programmes and on-going challenges, stating that three program reviews have been successfully completed, during which Pakistan has received around $4.1 – $4.5 billion in cumulative funds. The government has fulfilled rigorous pre-conditions such as phasing out certain tax exemptions and an absolute prohibition on additional grants, but there are still issues. Bosal said there is still a long way to go in the power sector in terms of resolving the issue of circular debt and specific educational expenditure targets. During the committee session, a strong debate was also held on the matter of government officials’ asset declaration:
FBR and Establishment Division Mechanism: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will provide details of assets with Establishment Division for initiating disciplinary action against officials having disproportionate assets. Parliamentary Reservations:
The disclosure of assets of the bureaucrats is an issue that concerned prominent members of the committees, including Hina Rabbani Khar and Naveed Qamar, who raised serious questions regarding the partial disclosure or concealment of assets of the bureaucrats. Lawmakers have asked for transparency in justifying the exception on the disclosure of parts of civil servants’ wealth, asking why the money registers of parliamentarians must be made public. Bosal said that the amendments to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act are ongoing to enable joint investments while bringing the corporate governance measures in line with the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Act, adding that the sweeping structural adjustments are under active consideration.
Highlighting the legislative process, the Finance Secretary said that the IMF has demanded 174 amendments in total, ranging from financial governance to state enterprises, climate measures, and subsidy rationalisation, but the government believes that such amendments are within the constitutional prerogative of Parliament.