The IMF’s findings cut through the official narratives of
“reform”, “revival”, and “investment climate improvement”. At the heart of
Pakistan’s economic paralysis lies a state captured by networks of political,
bureaucratic, and business interests that thrive on informality and opacity.
The tax system remains deliberately complex to create rent-seeking
opportunities. SOEs continue bleeding because political appointees treat them
as fiefdoms. The judiciary — hobbled by colonial-era laws — cannot enforce contracts,
discouraging both investment and fair competition. And the powerful remain
insulated from accountability through special exemptions, selective
transparency, and politically driven discretion.
The IMF’s pointed reference to the Special Investment
Facilitation Council is especially damning. By questioning its opaque
functioning and the immunity granted to its officials, the report exposes the
contradiction at the heart of Pakistan’s economic strategy: demanding investor
confidence while institutionalizing unaccountable power. If the government had
confidence in its own governance architecture, it would not have delayed
publication of the report for months.
The Fund’s proposed reform agenda — transparency,
parliamentary oversight of financial discretion, mandatory e-procurement,
restructuring of anti-corruption bodies, and removal of preferential treatment
— is basic housekeeping for any functioning state. Yet in Pakistan, these
measures appear radical only because they directly threaten entrenched
interests.
The tragedy is that Pakistan does not suffer from a lack of
diagnosis; it suffers from a lack of will. Every governance failure highlighted
in the GCDA has been documented for years, yet every government has chosen to
preserve privilege over reform. The IMF can nudge, advise, and pressure — but
it cannot manufacture political courage.
Pakistan’s elites may believe they can continue business as
usual. The economy says otherwise. Time for denial is over.
