IMF wants govt to boost transparency of anti-graft body
• Says changes to NAB law for transparency in chief’s appointment should be tabled by 2027 • Govt commits to enhancing capacities of provincial anti-corruption bodies ISLAMABAD: Under the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) enhanced focus on fighting corruption head-on, Pakistan has been required to increase the autonomy and transparency of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and report regularly on the outcomes to the Fund. “To enhance the independence and transparency of the National Accountability Bureau, the authorities will submit amendments to the NAB Ordinance to parliament to enhance the appointment process for the NAB chairman and publish investigation and prosecution rules and annual enforcement statistics” no later than end of January 2027, the IMF stated in its recent staff report . Before the 2027 amendments, an earlier structural benchmark has required the government to reach an agreement with the IMF on a methodology for a corruption risk assessment for an anti-corruption action plan to be led by NAB. It will also publish corruption vulnerabilities in the top 10 identified departments based on an institutional-level risk assessment, including adopting a methodology approved by the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) Committee, chaired by the law ministry. Strengthening the effectiveness of the anti-corruption institutions has become a greater focus for IMF following the publication of its governance and corruption diagnostic assessment (GCDA) last year. The government recently revised the Civil Servant (Conduct) Rules to ensure the online publication of asset declarations by senior federal civil servants by the end of December 2026. In December last year, Pakistan published the Prime Minister’s Economic Governance Reform (EGR) Plan based on the key GCDA recommendations, which sets out 15 reform actions with key performance indicators, timelines, and monitoring modalities. The authori...
Original source: Dawn Pakistan