Islamabad, December 14, 2025 – Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has clarified the intent, context, and continuity of reform measures under the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF), addressing recent public debate over claims of “new conditions” attached to the program.
The ministry emphasized that the measures in question are part of a phased, medium-term reform roadmap mutually agreed with the IMF and largely represent extensions or logical next steps of reforms already initiated by the government.
According to the finance ministry, the EFF is designed to support countries in implementing structural reforms over time to achieve agreed economic and fiscal objectives. These reforms are introduced gradually through periodic reviews, with each review building on earlier commitments to ensure consistency and sustainability. The Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) finalized after the second EFF review supplements earlier MEFPs and reflects this sequenced approach.
The government noted that during negotiations with the IMF, Pakistan presents its own reform plans. When these initiatives align with program objectives, they are incorporated into the MEFP. As a result, most structural benchmarks in the latest MEFP stem from domestic reform efforts rather than externally imposed or entirely new conditions.
Clarifying recent commentary, the ministry explained that public disclosure of civil servants’ asset declarations has been part of the EFF since May 2024, with the current benchmark representing a follow-up step after legislative amendments. Similarly, measures to strengthen the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and empower provincial anti-corruption bodies are continuations of earlier governance and AML/CFT reforms.
On remittances, the ministry highlighted that government-led efforts to curb informal channels have already delivered results, with remittances rising 26 percent from FY24 to FY25. The IMF has incorporated these ongoing initiatives into the program to further enhance external stability.
Other measures, including local currency bond market development, sugar sector deregulation, comprehensive Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) reforms, medium-term tax strategy formulation, and phased privatization of power distribution companies (DISCOs), were described as logical progressions of reforms already underway. Regulatory amendments to improve corporate compliance and contingency planning for potential revenue shortfalls have also been embedded in the EFF framework since its early stages.
The finance ministry concluded that the latest MEFP reflects continuity, sequencing, and deepening of Pakistan’s reform agenda under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility, rather than the introduction of sudden or unprecedented conditions.