Event Summary
The IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Report on Pakistan, published on 20 November 2025, has sparked widespread public discussion in the country, highlighting severe weaknesses in governance, transparency, and accountability in state institutions. The report identifies key issues such as persistent corruption, elite capture, poor public financial management, and systemic dysfunction in state-owned enterprises, which hinder economic stability. A central point of focus has been the IMF’s suggestion that Pakistan could achieve up to 6.5% GDP growth over five years if governance is improved and corruption reduced. This has fueled public dissatisfaction, as many see the findings as confirmation of long-standing complaints about misuse of public funds, lack of transparency, and political interference.
The report also identifies discretionary decision-making, weak auditing, and political patronage as causes of corruption, linking these issues to recurring economic crises, inflation, and growing external debt. The IMF’s findings have intensified calls for political accountability, with concerns over entrenched elite interests preventing reform. Public discourse stresses the need for legal protections for oversight bodies, political will, and genuine transparency. The report has also sparked conversations about political power dynamics, with many seeing it as external validation of domestic concerns about elite capture and state resource misuse.
The report has emerged during a moment when civic space in Pakistan faces increasing constraints. Journalists, activists, and rights defenders have reported growing pressures, with limited room to discuss issues related to accountability and transparency. In this context, the increased visibility of governance issues has created a strong opening for civil society to mobilize, advocate for reforms, and push for accountability. It has heightened awareness of the need for institutional strengthening and transparency in Pakistan, generating increased public discourses and engagement on these issues, thereby providing an important opportunity for improvements in government openness, including to civil society engagement.