IMF Warns Pakistan’s SIFC Risks Public Trust, Calls for Sweeping Reforms

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest technical assistance report on Pakistan’s governance and corruption vulnerabilities, has called for sweeping reforms to the country’s Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), warning that its current structure and opaque operations risk undermining public trust and economic efficiency. The SIFC, established to fast-track foreign investment and major projects, has been vested with broad authority but operates with “untested transparency and accountability provisions,” the IMF said. The report highlights that the council’s creation, overlapping with the Board of Investment, has introduced confusion and raised concerns about the immunity its staff enjoy in decision-making. The IMF’s assessment recommends that the SIFC immediately publish its first annual report, detailing all investments it has facilitated, the concessions granted, including tax, policy, regulatory, and legislative incentives, and the rationale and outcomes for each project. The Fund also urges the development of explicit protocols for the council’s activities and enhanced transparency arrangements to enable effective oversight and accountability. “Given its broad and disparate organizational functions and authority, the SIFC needs to develop explicit protocols for undertaking its activities and enhanced transparency arrangements to enable effective oversight and accountability,” the report states. The IMF further questions the rationale for the SIFC’s creation, noting that the Board of Investment continues to exist, and calls for a review of the council’s legal framework to ensure it does not bypass established checks and balances. The report situates these recommendations within a broader 15-point reform agenda aimed at tackling systemic corruption and governance weaknesses across Pakistan’s state institutions. The IMF estimates that if Pakistan implements a comprehensive package of governance reforms, including those targeting the SIFC.