The Nation has Awoken

When the IMF Tells You Your House Is on Fire… and You Still Ask for a New Sofa

Every now and then, I come across a document that makes me sit back, take a deep breath, and whisper: “Yeh hamaray saath kya ho raha hai?” The IMF’s latest Governance and Corruption Diagnostic (GCD) report is exactly that kind of document. It’s the sort of brutally honest mirror that no ruling elite wants to look into—mostly because their reflection resembles a cartel board meeting rather than a government.

Since the government itself requested this diagnostic, I can only imagine the confidence level they had when they said, “Haan ji, please evaluate us.”
Confidence—or delusion. Honestly, at this point, it’s hard to tell.

So let me walk you through what the IMF just told us about ourselves… and why every line feels like a slap followed by a sarcastic “Good job, Pakistan.”

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1. What the IMF Report Actually Says (Summary)

The GCD report is not gossip, not social-media rhetoric, and not a YouTube rant. It is a methodical, multi-agency, field-mission–based, evidence-driven assessment of how Pakistan’s governance has been hollowed out from the inside.

Here are the key takeaways the IMF spells out:

a. Corruption is Systemic, Not Accidental

Corruption isn’t a bug in the system—it is the system.
The IMF states that corruption is “persistent,” “embedded,” and “structural,” enabled by a state that dominates the economy with opaque rules, overlapping regulations, and discretionary power that practically begs to be abused.

b. Fiscal Governance Is a Train Wreck

Budgeting is inaccurate, procurement is shady, and public investment management resembles a charity run—except the charity is for the politically connected.

State-owned enterprises? The IMF politely calls them “inefficient.” If they were being less polite, the word would be: catastrophic.

c. Taxation & Customs: Designed for Corruption

The tax system is so complex and so discretionary that you’d think it was drafted by a committee of accountants, smugglers, and politicians locked in a room together, each writing a clause that benefits their cousin.

d. Judicial System: Slow, Inconsistent, Perceived as Corrupt

In a country where courts cannot enforce contracts consistently, the report simply concludes:
Private investment is discouraged.

You don’t say.

e. Accountability Institutions: Politicized and Toothless

NAB, FIA, provincial anti-corruption bodies—everyone is working, but nobody is “working.” The IMF diplomatically says they’re “fragmented, under-coordinated, politically influenced, and ineffective.”
Translation: They are used as political weapons, not accountability tools.

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2. When Governance Becomes a Crime Scene

Now comes the part where I—speaking as a Pakistani who genuinely wants this country to function—must ask the obvious question:

If corruption is everywhere, who is running the corruption?
Exactly the people running the government.

The IMF report confirms what every Pakistani taxi driver already knows:
Our rulers don’t just tolerate corruption—they depend on it. They cultivate it. They weaponize it.

a. Regulatory Capture: Corporations + Politicians = Best Friends

Politically connected firms are handed market advantages while the rest of the economy suffocates. Complex regulations aren’t meant to ensure order—they’re meant to ensure transactions.

b. The Sugar Scandal: A Case Study in “Organized Governance”

Even the IMF had to bring it up—because the fiasco was too blatant to ignore.

• Sugar mills created artificial shortages
• Prices were manipulated
• Hoarding and fake accounts were used
• Political beneficiaries were named
• And yet, no accountability followed

As the report indirectly points out:
Why would the government punish its own business partners?
Why investigate the very cartel that funds the corridors of power?

c. State-Owned Enterprises: Jumbo Jets of Corruption

SOEs like PIA, Steel Mills, DISCOs—each one is a goldmine of inefficiency and “opportunities” for the connected. Despite years of losses, the government clings to them because they are patronage machines.

d. Tax Authorities: The Kings of Discretion

When a tax authority has huge powers and almost zero oversight, you get a system where businessmen negotiate their taxes like they negotiate wedding halls—“Bhai, kuch kam kara dein.”

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3. The Elite Capture That Everyone Sees (Except the Elite)

One of the most damning lines from the IMF report describes how corruption has:

“Become legalized… concentrating power in a small elite.”

Let me underline this:
The IMF is saying that corruption isn’t happening because of a few bad apples.
Corruption is the governance model itself.

A handful of people—military generals on key posts, politicians, bureaucrats, military-linked businessmen, regulatory officers—are effectively deciding the fate of 240 million citizens.

And the IMF, in a technical, diplomatic tone, is basically yelling:
“Your system is rigged!”

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4. Why This Matters (And Why I’m Writing This)

I’m writing this because I care. Because while the ruling elite treat Pakistan like a personal startup, the rest of us live with the consequences:

• Skyrocketing prices (48% population living below poverty level)
• No foreign investment
• Daily governance failures
• Zero justice
• Institutions collapsing
• Citizens losing trust entirely

The IMF isn’t trying to embarrass us. They are telling us the truth we refuse to face.
And until we address the truth—honestly, publicly, courageously—nothing will change.

You can access the high level summary of the IMF report here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1npJ0c3E7-IdgFdggqC4AyYs2YT-D76xD/view?usp=sharing

Access the full report (186 pages) at: https://www.finance.gov.pk/mefp/technical_assistance_report_112025.pdf