IMF launches technical assistance mission to overhaul Pakistan’s budget management

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has initiated a technical assistance mission at Pakistan’s request to enhance budget management practices and tackle the persistent statistical discrepancies that have plagued the country’s fiscal data. The IMF mission, which began on November 9, 2025, will stay in Pakistan until November 21, 2025, The Express Tribune reported.

Led by Nino Tchelishvili from the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, the mission will assess Pakistan’s laws, rules, and practices surrounding budget management. 

This mission follows the recent release of Pakistan’s fiscal operations summary for the July-September quarter, which revealed a statistical discrepancy of Rs448 billion, primarily related to misreported expenses and revenues at both federal and provincial levels.

According to the Tribune report, the IMF team will focus on strengthening fiscal data governance to support data-driven decision-making in the country’s budget management. The mission will explore the compatibility of Pakistan’s budget with international fiscal data governance standards and will work on enhancing data interoperability across government departments.

Pakistan’s finance ministry noted discrepancies in the federal and provincial accounts, which included Rs93 billion in unaccounted federal expenses and discrepancies totaling Rs354 billion across the provinces. These discrepancies arose due to issues like delayed payments, time lag in reporting, and variations in data handling by entities like the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the Economic Affairs Division.

As part of the technical mission, the IMF will examine multiple areas of fiscal data, including legal frameworks, fiscal data strategy, data architecture, privacy, and internal controls. The mission will also assess treasury and cash management, public finance management laws, and the accuracy of tax revenue reporting, which often varies by significant margins.

The IMF will look into Pakistan’s public procurement systems, debt management practices, and the central bank’s payment systems, all of which have been identified as areas requiring urgent reform.

This mission is part of a broader effort by Pakistan to align its fiscal systems with international standards and improve governance. The IMF’s findings will be presented to its executive directors and the sponsor countries, and its recommendations are expected to shape Pakistan’s fiscal policy moving forward.