Reporting snapshot · 25 September 2026. Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Thursday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants about 174 amendments to Pakistani laws passed as part of its two ongoing programmes, and that the government would place the proposed changes before parliament. This account is a synthesis of reporting by Dawn, The Express Tribune and Profit by Pakistan Today, all of whom attended or covered the same committee briefing; the exact scope of the amendments and the timetable for tabling them have not been published in full, and the figures may be revised as formal review talks begin on Monday 28 September.
What happened
The International Monetary Fund is seeking about 174 amendments to Pakistani laws covering financial-sector governance, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), foreign remittances, climate change and local-currency integration as part of its two ongoing programmes worth a combined $8.4 billion, Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Thursday, Dawn reported.
“There are a total of 174 amendments the IMF wants to be passed,” Mr Bosal told the panel, presided over by PPP lawmaker Syed Naveed Qamar. He said the government was working on the amendments, which would be placed before parliament for approval, and that the IMF had been told in clear terms that while the proposals would be presented to parliament, their approval remained parliament’s prerogative.
The disclosure came as an IMF staff mission is already in Pakistan for the programme reviews, Profit by Pakistan Today reported. The mission arrived in Karachi on 23 September and opened technical discussions with the State Bank of Pakistan, and formal negotiations for the fourth review of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the third review of the $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) are set to begin on Monday, 28 September. Around $4.5 billion has so far been disbursed by the IMF, and three programme reviews have been completed.
What the 174 amendments cover
The amendments span several reform streams. According to Dawn, they are aimed at improving governance in the financial sector, bringing state-owned enterprises in line with the SOE Act, overhauling the foreign-remittance system, addressing climate-related measures and integrating the local currency.
Changes to the law governing the Pakistan Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) are part of the discussions, Profit reported. The fund holds five major blue-chip companies, including Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO), with governance and financial-reporting standards among the issues being considered. The Finance Secretary said the IMF had been clearly told that the proposed amendments would be presented to parliament, but that their approval remained parliament’s prerogative.
Remittances are also on the table. Mr Bosal said costly payment-system impediments needed to be addressed, while the Fund had strongly opposed subsidies used to facilitate remittances — subsidies that had previously exceeded Rs120 billion and have since been withdrawn, Dawn and Profit reported.
Sugar-sector liberalisation is another benchmark under discussion. The federal government has circulated a draft policy, with three provinces agreeing to it while one has raised reservations that remain to be addressed, Profit reported. The committee also questioned the government’s strategy for power distribution companies (Discos), particularly the future of loss-making entities if profitable companies are privatised.
Why parliament’s role matters
The committee’s exchange underlined the constitutional politics around the IMF programme. The Finance Secretary said the government had made it clear that approving legislative amendments was the prerogative of parliament — a point designed to blunt criticism that the bailout’s structural conditions are being imposed without proper scrutiny, The Express Tribune reported.
The briefing also served as a status check two years after the EFF was approved on 25 September 2024, with a total programme size of $7 billion. Cumulative disbursements stand at roughly $4.5 billion, with the RSF taking the overall programme envelope to $8.4 billion.
Committee members pressed the finance ministry to show that reforms were producing measurable outcomes rather than mere compliance. Members asked for clearer information on implementation timelines, outstanding commitments, the effectiveness of public expenditure and the implications of reforms for citizens, businesses and taxpayers, and stressed that fiscal consolidation should be accompanied by measures supporting investment, exports, employment and sustainable economic growth. The briefing’s reform-gap discussion follows KhabarWire’s reporting that the fourth review opened with a Rs370 billion health and education spending miss and Rs853 billion in statistical discrepancies.
What is still uncertain
The precise list of the 174 amendments has not been published in full, and the figures differ across reports — Dawn and Profit put the total at 174, while The Express Tribune’s account of the same briefing cited “about 114 amendments” to the Companies Act 2017 alone. The discrepancy is unresolved and may reflect different counting of the total legislative agenda versus the corporate-law component.
The timing of the legislative push is also unclear. Formal IMF negotiations are scheduled to begin on Monday, 28 September, and are expected to run into early October, but the government has not confirmed when the amendment package will be tabled in parliament. The review’s outcome determines Pakistan’s eligibility for a further disbursement of roughly $1 billion under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF, which the government has said it expects after the IMF Executive Board approves the review, potentially by late November or early December.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 25 September 2026.
- Dawn — Govt working on 174 IMF-sought tweaks, NA panel told25 September 2026 · Primary committee-briefing report; the 174-amendment figure and parliament's prerogative.
- Profit by Pakistan Today — IMF wants Pakistan to make 174 legislative changes under ongoing loan programmes25 September 2026 · Independent confirmation; SWF, remittances and sugar-policy details.
- The Express Tribune — Austerity steps to save only Rs17b25 September 2026 · Independent account of the same briefing; Companies Act amendment count and committee scrutiny.
