The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to remove the finance secretary from the central bank’s board.
According to The Express Tribune newspaper, this recommendation is part of the Governance and Corruption Diagnosis Mission report and appears aimed at completely ending federal government oversight, despite the government being the 100% shareholder of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Under the existing law, the finance secretary is a board member “without the right to vote.” This would mark the second attempt to exclude the federal secretary in the past three years.
In 2022, under IMF pressure, the government had already granted absolute autonomy to the SBP and removed the finance secretary’s voting rights on the board.
The IMF argues that removing the vote-less secretary would further strengthen independence at an already highly autonomous central bank.
The IMF has also pressed for immediately filling two vacant deputy governor positions at the SBP to ensure collective decision-making.
Pakistan is currently implementing a $7 billion IMF loan package, with each installment of about $1 billion requiring fulfillment of agreed conditions.
The IMF review mission is expected in the third week of September 2025 for discussions on the third loan tranche of $1 billion.
