The Ministry of Finance has claimed that it has undertaken significant structural reforms for the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with technical support of the international development partners, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a statement on December 14, it stated that significant structural reforms had been undertaken in the field of public financial management for the federal government.
“Implementation of the TSA is one of the reform areas, where the IMF has been providing comprehensive technical assistance for capacity building, design, scope and execution in line with the international best practices,” said the ministry.
It added that the IMF’s TSA report is still at the draft stage and discussions are in progress between the Finance Division and the IMF. The draft report has acknowledged the major strides made by the government of Pakistan in implementation of the challenging public financial management reforms, including the TSA.
Owing to the complexities involved in the implementation process, the IMF team has proposed various models and timelines for the TSA, while the Finance Division is in the process of evaluating these proposed models and timelines in consultation with all stakeholders, stated the ministry.
It maintained that while the government has agreed with the IMF to implement the TSA, there is no end-December 2022 deadline to close all commercial bank accounts maintained by the public sector entities and the Ministry of Defence and transfer money to the State Bank of Pakistan.
However, the IMF draft report showed that “the second and final stage will not be completed by the end of 2022”. The Ministry of Finance claimed that the figure of cumulative balance at about Rs2.9 trillion is also incorrect. On the contrary, the IMF report disclosed that “the status of 484 accounts regarding their ownership has not been identified”.
The ministry added that the implementation of TSA in all public entities of the federal government is an ongoing process, involving extensive consultations on scope, design, accounting, banking arrangements and IT infrastructure.
The IMF report depicts a different story than what the Ministry of Finance has claimed in its statement.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2022.
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