New Delhi, March 6 (NationPress) The ineffective governance of Pakistan by its ruling class has plunged the nation into recurring crises, which are both political and economic in nature. This ongoing economic distress has led to the implementation of 25 IMF programs, each exacerbating the country’s fundamental issues instead of paving the way for enduring development and growth, according to a report from Pakistani media.

The most recent instance is the current program where the IMF has approved the government’s extravagant fiscal policies while placing the adjustment burden on the average Pakistani citizen. This unrestricted spending comes alongside repeated leniency regarding structural and institutional reforms. By doing this, the Fund has neglected its primary responsibility to protect the welfare of ordinary citizens in a member nation, as highlighted in an article by Sakib Sherani, a member of various past Prime Ministers’ economic advisory councils, featured in the Dawn newspaper.

Since 2023, under the IMF's guidance, Pakistan has seen the largest fiscal adjustment in its history, amounting to a cumulative 5.6 percent of GDP. However, a staggering 73 percent of this adjustment has been sourced from revenue measures, disproportionately affecting already-taxed formal businesses, salaried workers, and the less affluent through petroleum levies and indirect taxes.

Concurrently, the government’s lavish spending has received a free pass from the IMF. The consolidated public expenditure, both federal and provincial, has surged by 60 percent (FY23–FY26 budgeted) in nominal terms. Non-interest expenditures have jumped by 70 percent, with personnel-related spending increasing from Rs 3.7 trillion to Rs 5.9 trillion, marking a 59 percent rise. Development spending driven by political patronage has soared by 64 percent. Much of the government expenditure since 2022 has taken the form of political incentives for various institutional constituencies. Yet, the IMF has turned a blind eye to these issues, the article asserts.

The combination of aggressive tax mobilization, subsidy reductions, and the depreciation of the rupee has pushed 114 million Pakistanis (44.7 percent of the population) below the poverty line, as estimated by the World Bank in June 2025. Unemployment has reached 18.8 million, as reported by the seventh Population and Housing Census of 2023, with at least 6.7 million young individuals out of work. Real wages for a representative sample of worker categories have decreased by 27 percent since March 2022. A larger proportion of the population is now food-insecure compared to 2022 (approximately one-quarter).

The IMF's program design has shifted nearly the entire adjustment burden onto compliant taxpayers and ordinary citizens while safeguarding the government’s extravagant spending aimed at creating a new political landscape. Initially, this may appear as a ‘technocratic’ oversight, but it is far from that. It is a deliberate and politically motivated strategy. The IMF is not an uninvolved observer; it actively reviews and approves the overall fiscal framework and significant expenditure allocations. Granting such a conspicuous immunity to fiscal irresponsibility while overseeing the ‘austerity’ program suggests a degree of complicity, the article concludes.