Islamabad (TDI): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified key shortcomings in Pakistan’s governance, including the politicization of the civil service, weak organizational accountability, and excessive focus on short-term goals.
These issues, the IMF said, contribute to broader governance problems and increase vulnerability to corruption.
The observations were made following the conclusion of a 12-day trip by the IMF’s legal mission, led by Joel Turkewitz.
During the visit, the mission engaged with at least thirty organizations and departments as part of finalizing the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment report.
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The report which is likely to be made public by August this year will give recommendations for ensuring greater transparency and improving the public sector delivery by minimizing the chances of corruption and through merit-based decisions, according to The Express Tribune.
One of the findings was that there had been no uniformed anti-corruption policy and the anti-corruption initiatives were mostly event or organization based and different entities were responsible for minimising the menace.
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The National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency and the provincial anti-corruption departments are responsible for ending corruption in the government. However, it was noted, there has not been any consistent anti-corruption policy.
According to the IMF’s assessment, there is also a lack of risk prioritization among the government organizations that causes weak governance and increased corruption vulnerabilities.
