In order to increase economic openness, the United States has urged Pakistan to submit its military and intelligence budgets to public or parliamentary scrutiny.
The US State Department's 2025 Fiscal Transparency Report, which examined 140 governments' public financial disclosure and management practices, included the proposal.The report was made public on Friday.
In its section on Pakistan, the study stated that "neither sufficient parliamentary nor civilian public oversight was applied to the military and intelligence budgets."
It continued by suggesting that "parliamentary or civilian public oversight of the budgets of the military and intelligence agencies is one step Pakistan could take to improve fiscal transparency."
The report also called for Islamabad to release its executive budget proposal to the public as soon as possible.
It pointed out that "the government did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period," noting that a publication of such kind would enable more thorough examination and well informed discussion.
The evaluation of debt disclosure was equally important. "The government made only limited information on debt obligations, including major state owned enterprise debt, publicly available," the report noted.
To improve transparency, the State Department recommended "disclosing detailed information on government debt obligations, including for state-owned enterprises."
Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the report recognised Pakistan's advancements in many areas.
In addition to describing the budget data as "generally reliable and subject to audit by the supreme audit institution," it stated that the "enacted budget and end of year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online."
Additionally, it commended Pakistan's auditing agency, stating that it "met international standards of independence" and that the results were made accessible to the public in a timely manner.
