- By: Barrister Usman Ali (Ph.D.)
- How entrenched interests, weak institutions, and unaccountable power, not external pressures,brought Pakistan to the brink.
The IMF’s latest 186-page report has once again exposed an uncomfortable truth: Pakistan’s economic decline is driven far less by external pressures and far more by internal decay. Corruption, institutional weakness, and the dominance of entrenched elites lie at the heart of the country’s financial crisis. The report documents how graft permeates every tier of governance, how policymaking remains hostage to vested interests, and how state institutions have been reshaped to serve private gain rather than public welfare.
Pakistan lacks a reliable mechanism to measure the true scale of corruption, yet the National Accountability Bureau’s recovery of 5,300 billion rupees in just two years offers a disturbing glimpse into the magnitude of the problem. According to the IMF, even this staggering figure represents only one dimension of a much deeper crisis. Ordinary citizens are compelled to pay bribes for basic services, the judiciary is widely perceived as compromised, and public confidence in state institutions is steadily eroding. The report also underscores how powerful political and economic groups manipulate laws, regulations, and administrative structures to protect their interests at the expense of national stability.
The 2019 sugar crisis is cited as a textbook example: influential business networks exploited loopholes, hoarded supplies, engineered price hikes, and laundered billions through fake accounts, while the state failed to enforce accountability. Beyond isolated scandals, the IMF points to broader structural weaknesses: a convoluted tax system, fragile financial management, non-transparent procurement, and chronically underperforming public institutions. According to its projections, Pakistan could achieve an additional 5 to 6.5 percent GDP growth over the next five years if it were to implement genuine governance reforms. The implication is clear: curbing corruption is not merely a moral undertaking, it is an economic necessity.
Corruption in Pakistan is not a recent phenomenon. From the early years of the state to the present day, every era, civilian or military, has carried its own promises of reform and its own mechanisms of misuse. Slogans of accountability, transparency, and “clean governance” have repeatedly been used to rally public support, only to be followed by new forms of manipulation and fresh records of misuse. This is why the country now stands at a precarious juncture.
Whenever corruption is raised as a national concern, those in power frequently dismiss such calls as politically motivated attacks. This tactic obscures the issue and allows deeply rooted malpractice to continue unchecked. The IMF report, however, cannot be dismissed as part of a political feud. It represents an impartial and external assessment, one that exposes what many in Pakistan have long known but few in authority have been willing to confront. Corruption has existed for decades, it thrives today, and it will continue to flourish unless the state breaks the grip of a handful of influential families, business cartels, and power brokers.
The consequences are stark. Pakistan today resembles an exhausted man who has spent his life working, only to see his earnings squandered by irresponsible heirs. Citizens pay heavy taxes and energy bills, yet public resources remain concentrated in a few hands. While millions struggle for survival, others spend extravagantly without accountability. Such imbalances erode not only the economy but the moral fabric of the nation.
Around the world, countries that successfully tackled corruption did so through decisive, uncompromising reform. China’s zero-tolerance campaign led to the prosecution of ministers, party secretaries, business tycoons, and military generals, many receiving life sentences or even the death penalty. Japan treats corruption as a moral disgrace; senior officials resign over mere allegations. South Korea imprisoned two former presidents and powerful business magnates, reshaping its political culture. Singapore, once riddled with graft, transformed itself through independent anti-corruption institutions and strict enforcement, no official, regardless of rank, is beyond scrutiny.
The Muslim world offers similar lessons. In Saudi Arabia, the 2017 anti-corruption purge ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman led to the detention of princes, ministers, and billionaires, recovering billions of dollars. The UAE enforces some of the toughest anti-corruption laws in the region, where even minor misconduct can result in dismissal, prison, and lifetime bans from public service. Malaysia prosecuted former Prime Minister Najib Razak in the 1MDB scandal. Indonesia empowered its anti-corruption commission and jailed governors and ministers. Rwanda rebuilt itself with remarkable discipline and today stands among Africa’s cleanest governance models. Their common principle is simple: no one, not politicians, not generals, not bureaucrats, is above the law.
If Pakistan is serious about stability, it must adopt the same principles. Accountability institutions need independence, not political control. Judicial appointments must be transparent. Political patronage in state institutions must end. The tax system must be simplified. Public procurement must be open to scrutiny. Above all, political financing must be reformed so that policymaking is not dictated by elite interests.
The IMF report is not a punishment; it is a final opening. It warns that if Pakistan does not reform its governance structures, strengthen the rule of law, and build transparency into its institutional framework, future generations will inherit a weakened and unstable state. If borrowing from the IMF is unavoidable, then implementing its governance recommendations is equally unavoidable. Those whose practices have been identified in the report must also recognize their responsibility and show restraint. A nation cannot bear the weight of their limitless greed any longer.
The fight against corruption is not won through slogans, it requires ruthless accountability, strong institutions, an independent judiciary, and a collective national will. Many nations have transformed themselves. Pakistan can do the same, if it truly decides to.