ISLAMABAD: A news story has been published in a national dail, on 10-12-2022 with the title “TSA deadline will be missed: IMF”. The story has been based on a draft report prepared by the IMF Technical Assistance Mission which visited Islamabad from October 3 to 10, 2022.
The news story contains incorrect data, wrong and baseless information and miss-interpretation of the facts and records, said a press release issued here.
It is clarified that Finance Division with the technical support of the International Development Partners including IMF has undertaken significant structural reforms in the field of public financial management in the Federal Government.
Implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) is one of such reforms where the IMF has been providing comprehensive Technical Assistance for capacity building, design, scope and execution in line with the International Best Practices.
It is also highlighted that the subject newspaper story is based on an IMF report which is still at the draft stage and discussions are in progress between Finance Division and the IMF.
The IMF draft report has acknowledged major strides made by the Government of Pakistan in the implementation of challenging public financial management reforms including TSA. This aspect has been conveniently ignored in the news story.
Owing to the complexities involved in the implementation process, the IMF team has proposed various models and timelines for TSA. Finance Division is in the process of evaluating these proposed models and timelines in consultation with all stakeholders.
While the Government has agreed with the IMF to implement TSA, there is no end-December 2022 deadline to close all commercial bank accounts maintained by public sector entities and Ministry of Defence and transfer money to the State Bank of Pakistan. Further, no commitment has ever been by Government of Pakistan with IMF to close all commercial bank accounts maintained by the Public Sector Entities including OGRA and NHA. The figure of the cumulative balance of about Rs. 2.9 trillion is also incorrect.
The statement that “Ministry of Finance is un-aware of the ownership of 484 bank accounts” is also in-correct and tantamount to disinformation. Complete information is available with the State Bank of Pakistan with regard to all the commercial bank accounts maintained by the federal as well as provincial government entities/organizations.
The commercial banks have been sharing full data with the SBP as per the provisions of the PFM Act, 2019.
The implementation of TSA in all the Public Entities of the Federal Government is an ongoing process involving extensive consultations on scope, design, accounting, banking arrangements and IT infrastructure. It has not been slowed down as alleged in the news story.
