The United States has called on Pakistan to subject its defence and intelligence budgets to parliamentary or civilian public oversight, describing it as a key step to improve fiscal accountability and transparency.
The recommendation appears in the US Department of State’s 2025 Fiscal Transparency Report, released on Friday. The annual report reviews the openness of budgetary practices worldwide, assessing how governments publish, audit, and manage public funds.
“The military and intelligence budgets were not subject to adequate parliamentary or civilian public oversight,” the report stated in its Pakistan section. It added that “steps Pakistan could take to improve fiscal transparency include… subjecting the military and intelligence agencies’ budgets to parliamentary or civilian public oversight”.
The report also urged Pakistan to ensure the timely publication of its executive budget proposal. “The government… did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period,” the assessment noted, calling for earlier release of the document to enable informed debate and scrutiny.
While highlighting these shortcomings, the State Department acknowledged progress in other areas. It noted that Pakistan’s “enacted budget and end-of-year report [were] widely and easily accessible to the public, including online,” and that budget information was “generally reliable and subject to audit by the supreme audit institution.”
It also praised the independence of Pakistan’s supreme audit institution, saying it “met international standards of independence” and published audit findings within a reasonable period.
