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He has long been considered an important player in Pakistan’s economic landscape, which often takes steps to provide financial support during the crisis. Recent data shows some success: inflation came to a historical level of 0.3 % in April 2025, and the first half of the first half of the financial year 25 was achieved by the basic distance of GDP.
However, these headline data hide a deep malfunction. The IMF’s reform agenda, while strict on paper, has failed to focus on the structural privileges surrounded by the elite of Pakistan.
The general IMF prescription includes efficiency: subsidized cuts, tax increases and reducing public spending. These measures, while proportional to paper, influence the low -income sections of society inappropriately. For example, the elimination of energy subsidy has resulted in electricity prices, which have already faced inflation in the households. The royal hunger that is enjoyed by senior bureaucrats and influential business tycoons is widely strained.
A comprehensive study of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics has highlighted these privileges. In the grade of 17 and above, government employees receive many benefits besides their salaries. These include government housing, government vehicles, fuel allowances and free or subsidized utilities.
These compensation significantly increase the actual cost of maintaining bureaucrats. For example, the total cost of the Grade 20 officer may double his basic salary.
The overall impact of these privileges is amazing. Estimates show that annual expenditures on public servants, including salaries, pensions and facilities 8 trillion rupees (houses, various allowances, pensions, gravitations, discount plots, medical care, pools, vehicles and their care, insurance and foreign visits).
Paide’s study revealed that there are more than six dozen facilities and privileges. For example, the cost of using government vehicles for personal purposes by Grade 20-22 officers is 1.2 times higher in their basic salary.
Housing facilities are another area of concern. Only a small portion of government employees lives in public residence. The majority get a lot of house rent allowance. In cities like Islamabad, this allowance can be 45 % higher than the basic salary.
The minetization policy, which aims to change extraordinary benefits with cash allowance, has not been implemented globally. Many senior officers continue to provide government -provided housing and vehicles. In Islamabad alone, 17,471 government houses are sitting on land worth Rs 1.45 trillion. For senior officers, government cars cost Rs 1.53 billion. These figures indicate the costs of a lot of opportunities associated with such concessions.
If the bureaucracy had survived like other citizens, they might have been forced to upgrade the broken citizen infrastructure. In public residences and all around it, they are conducted by the common man’s suffering.
Luxury housing is underway for bureaucrats. The Punjab government has recently approved the construction of 27 luxury houses at a cost of more than Rs 1.64 billion. Such expenses highlight the gulf between the state’s financial policies and the living reality of its citizens.
This privileged class eats a large part of the national budget. Nevertheless, they continue to demand an increase in salaries in every budget.
If the bureaucrats were like other citizens, they would have been forced to upgrade the broken urban infrastructure. In public residences, surrounded by government vehicles, security agencies, and surrounded by relaxation and serving staff, they are suffering from the common man’s suffering. They do not face difficulties in public hospitals, nor the disappointment of failed schools and crowded public transport.
Let us end this privilege. Let us treat them as other Pakistanis. Only then, maybe, they will design a public transport system that they will be willing to use. Make good schools for your children. And the hospitals will have no objection to seeing them when needed.
Although the IMF has ordered a reduction in subsidies that directly affect the poor, it remains silent on the extravagance costs by the bureaucratic elite. This approach not only maintains inequality but also disrupts the credibility of reforms.
If the IMF had a more equal reform agenda, it would make its support for the government’s commitment to reduce the bureaucrat’s privileges. It can begin with the miniatization of all kinds of benefits. Savings can then be sent to the fields of health, education and public transport.
Proper investment in public transport can relieve the burden on urban infrastructure and reduce environmental pollution. If government officials want to abandon vehicles and fuel allowances, the state can take these funds into the development of an effective and affordable public transit system, which will benefit the entire population.
If the IMF reform agenda includes the rational status of bureaucratic facilities, it could allocate more resources. Excessive management costs can promote public confidence in public institutions in areas such as education, health care and public transport.
The IMF’s efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s economy are noteworthy. However, another comprehensive approach is essential to dealing with structural incompetence. By advocating for bureaucratic concessions, the IMF can play an important role in promoting social equality and institutional integrity.
Author is the founder of the School of Sociology at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad
