Government-by-Government Assessments: Pakistan
During the review period, the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the general public, including online. It did not publish its executive budget proposal in a reasonable period of time. While the government published limited information on debt obligations, it did not adequately disclose all public and publicly guaranteed debt obligations, including financing related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. Publicly available budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of most of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams, including natural resource revenues. The budget of the intelligence agencies was not subject to adequate parliamentary or other civilian oversight. The information in the budget was considered generally reliable and subject to audit by the supreme audit institution. The supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence. Its audit reports are made publicly available within a reasonable period of time and provide substantive findings. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were specified in law, regulation, and appeared to be followed in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available. Pakistan’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing its executive budget proposal in a reasonable period of time;
- disclosing detailed information on government debt obligations, including for state-owned enterprises; and
- subjecting the intelligence agencies’ budgets to parliamentary or other civilian oversight.