The United States State Department has issued an annual assessment advising Pakistan to strengthen parliamentary oversight of public finances by improving the timely disclosure of budget proposals, government debt and other fiscal information.
The 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report identifies several areas requiring greater transparency and oversight, including the timely publication of the executive budget proposal and fuller disclosure of government debt obligations, particularly those of major state-owned enterprises.
“During the review period, the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online,” it said, while noting the executive budget proposal was not published “within a reasonable period.”
According to the State Department, timely access to the government’s proposed budget is important for public scrutiny of spending and revenue priorities prior to its formal approval. It has recommended Islamabad made the budget proposal publicly available within a “reasonable period,” allowing Parliament and the public more opportunity to examine spending plans.
The report also identifies gaps in information on Pakistan’s financial liabilities, saying greater disclosure would provide a clearer picture of the government’s overall financial position and allow legislators and the public to assess the potential fiscal risks associated with state-owned enterprises.
“Publicly available budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of most of the government’s planned expenditures and revenues, including natural resource revenues,” it said, describing the budget information as “generally reliable and subject to scrutiny by the country’s supreme audit institution.”
The State Department’s assessment said the supreme audit institution met international standards of independence, adding its findings were available to the public within a reasonable period.
On Pakistan’s handling of natural resource contracts and licenses, the report found the government had established legal and regulatory criteria and procedures for awarding contracts and licenses for natural resource extraction and appeared to follow them in practice. It similarly found that Islamabad published accessible information about public procurement contracts, while the country’s sovereign wealth fund had a “sound legal framework.”
To boost fiscal transparency, the report advised expediting the public availability of the executive budget proposal; disclosing detailed information on government debt obligations, including those of state-owned enterprises; and subjecting military and intelligence agencies’ budgets to parliamentary or civilian public oversight. Of the last point, the report noted those budgets were not subject to “adequate parliamentary or civilian public oversight.”