Islamabad:
The International Monetary Fund has sent a mission to Pakistan to assume a comprehensive management and corruption assessment, including a review of the process of appointing judges, judicial integrity and its independence.
The first of its kind of detailed mission – Pakistan Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment – began his work on Thursday. It will end the exercise on February 14, the government and the diplomatic sources of the Express Pakinomist told.
During his stay in Pakistan, the IMF team meets with the representatives of at least 19 ministries, departments and state agencies, including with the Judicial Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Court in Pakistan.
The focus of the mission remains on the rule of law, anti-corruption, financial supervision, extermination of well-anchored interests in the state’s management structure and combating money laundering, according to the sources.
The mission was scheduled last September, but it came at a critical time when the Islamabad High Court judges and the Supreme Court in Pakistan have raised concerns about the appointment process for judges in the overall court.
The 26th constitutional amendment has resulted in fundamental changes in the process of appointing the judges, giving politicians a role in the selection process.
The sources said the mission will hold a meeting with the legal commission next week and discuss the process of appointing judges. It also plans to meet with the Supreme Court in Pakistan to make an assessment of the legal integrity and independence – the two areas that are critical.
The mission ends its assessment and its report will be published by July 2025. According to $ 7 billion agreement, Pakistan is obliged to publish the full report on governance and corruption diagnosis by July.
Pakistan has also committed with the IMF that the global lender with capacity development support from the global lender “will take on a management and corruption diagnosis assessment to analyze critical control and corruption wounds and identify priority structural reforms moving forward”.
The IMF meets with the National Accountability Bureau to discuss the national anti-corruption strategy, nature and severity of corruption, law enforcement of corruption, including money-running investigation and prosecution.
“Effective management frameworks and independent anti -corruption institutions are critical of overcoming poor decision -making, mitigating unnecessary influence of interested interests and maintaining hard -fought structural reforms,” according to the IMF.
The IMF said that Pakistan’s vulnerabilities and structural challenges remain formidable. A difficult business environment, weak governance and a major role in the state hinder the investment, which remains very low compared to peers.
The IMF also meets with the financial surveillance unit to make an assessment of the suspicious transactions reporting from the obliged entities, dissemination of financial intelligence, resources and capacity to tackle these challenges.
Another main focus of the mission is the money -whale laundering proceeds from domestic corruption, and whether Pakistan has any effective risk -limiting strategy and action plan to overpower this challenge.
The mission meets with the National Anti-Money-Hvid Lains Authority and combats the financing of terrorist authority. The sources said the focus of the discussion will be a laundering of money by domestic corruption.
A crucial meeting takes place with the Ministry of Law and Justice to make an assessment of the status of the rule of law. The IMF will assess the need for any legal reforms to ensure the rule of law through the independence of the judiciary, protection of property rights and contract enforcement.
The mission will have more meetings with the State Bank of Pakistan, some of them have already taken place this week, the sources said. The central bank has provided an overview of the most important challenges and reform priorities related to governance and anti -corruption of SBP, the banking sector and its supervision.
The central bank’s legal framework and government schemes have also been discussed, and further discussions will take place about current laws and every need to change them to improve governance.
The mission will conduct the review of the Banking Policy Group’s organization, regulatory decision making; Legislative frameworks, including for government -related topics; And the legislative framework for state -owned banks.
The central bank is often seen as protecting the interests of the commercial banks at the expense of the depositors and the economy. It has not taken effective and meaningful actions against the commercial banks for their commitment to a money laundering through the import of solar panels. The banks were also not punished two years ago when they manipulated the price of the US currency against rupe.
The IMF mission will also ask for a briefing on bank surveillance, organization, resources, information technology systems, legal protection for supervisors and supervision development. It will review the supervisory framework for business management and transactions with related parties and other government -related issues; Monitoring of state -owned banks.
The Islamic Banking and Anti-Wheat Laying of Money and Combating Terrorism Financing, The Bank Payment System, the Government and the Banks’ Arrangement and the State Treasury Single Account Problem will also come during the review, the sources said.
The IMF will have several meetings with FBR with the main focus on the utilization of databases in a declaration of activation, the monitoring of money laundering and preventive measures from designated non-financial companies and businesses (DNFBPS). The IMF will undergo management risks in tax policy and implementation.
A meeting takes place with the Federal Land Commission to assess the management parameters of the land management.
It has planned meetings with the Ministry of Climate Change, the Ministry of House to ensure that property rights are protected and with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The SECP meetings will focus on advantageous ownership-related transparency for businesses and their supervision and preventative measures against money laundering from non-banking financial institutions.
The IMF meets with the Department of the Auditor General of Pakistan, the establishment department to review its anti -corruption structure for the asset declaration system for the bureaucrats and with the National Disaster Management Authority for climate adaptation policies and projects.
The IMF meets with the Privatization Commission to assess SOEs and various managed funds.
Several meetings are also planned with the Ministry of Finance to have an overview of budget preparation and execution and current reforms; Overview of the Ministry of Finance’s functions including budgetary execution, accounting, TSA, cash management and debt management.
The Ministry of Planning Meeting will focus on public investment management, public sector development program and public private partnership schemes
A meeting with the Ministry of Economic Affairs is also planned to discuss external debt, coordination of debt management with the Ministry of Finance including debt data collection and publication.
