IMF mission to undertake ‘governance, corruption diagnostic assessment’ in Pakistan

Pakistan on Sunday confirmed that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) scoping mission is visiting the country to undertake the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA) Assessment.

According to Pakistan' Ministry of Finance, the three member IMF scoping mission is visiting Pakistan to undertake the GCDA Assessment that will examine the severity of corruption vulnerabilities across six core state functions.

These include fiscal governance, central bank governance and operations, financial sector oversight, market regulation, rule of law, and AML-CFT, the statement added.

The mission will mainly engage with organizations like Finance Division, Federal Board of Revenue, State Bank of Pakistan, Auditor General of Pakistan, Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Election Commission of Pakistan and Ministry of Law & Justice.

According to Finance division, The IMF has long been providing advice and technical assistance that has helped to foster good governance, such as promoting public sector transparency and accountability.

IMF offers to undertake Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA) with member countries to analyze and recommend actions for addressing corruption vulnerabilities and strengthening integrity & governance in IMF member countries.

Following the analysis, GCDAs prioritize and sequence recommendations for systematically addressing the vulnerabilities.

Since 2018, 20 GCDA reports were finalized and include Sri Lanka, Mauritania, Cameroon, Zambia, and Benin and 10 diagnostics are ongoing, and several are under consideration by IMF.

So, similarly under the EFF 2024 program, there is a structural benchmark that with IMF capacity development support, the government of Pakistan will undertake a GCD Assessment to analyze critical governance and corruption vulnerabilities and identify priority structural reforms moving forward.

The GCDA report will recommend actions for addressing corruption vulnerabilities and strengthening integrity & governance, which will assist the government in bringing about reforms for promoting transparency, strengthening institutional capacities and achieving inclusive & sustainable economic growth.

Traditionally the IMF’s main focus has been on encouraging countries to correct macroeconomic imbalances, reduce inflation, and undertake key trade, exchange, and other market reforms needed to improve efficiency and support sustained economic growth.

While these remain its main focus in all its member countries, however, the IMF has found that a much broader range of institutional reforms are needed if countries are to establish and maintain private sector confidence and thereby lay the basis for sustained growth.

IMF identified that promoting good governance in all its aspects, including ensuring the rule of law, improving the efficiency and accountability of the public sector, and tackling corruption are essential elements of a framework within which economies can prosper.

In 1997, the IMF adopted a policy on how to address economic governance, embodied in the Guidance Note “The Role of the IMF in Governance Issues”. To further strengthen the implementation of this policy, the IMF adopted in 2018 a new Framework for Enhanced Engagement on Governance (Governance Policy) that aims to promote more systematic, effective, candid, and evenhanded engagement with member countries regarding governance vulnerabilities—including corruption—that are critical to macroeconomic performance.

The government of Pakistan appreciates the technical support of IMF in this regard, a statement issued by Ministry of Finance states.