Press Release No. 26/013

Washington, DC: At the request of the Nepali authorities, an IMF Technical Assistance mission led by Jonathan Pampolina visited Kathmandu from January 12 to 21, 2026, to lay the groundwork for a Governance and Corruption Diagnostic (GCD). The GCD aims to identify macro-economically critical governance weaknesses and corruption vulnerabilities, and design an action plan with specific, sequenced recommendations and reform priorities.

The focus of this hybrid scoping mission was to launch the GCD by engaging with stakeholders on governance and corruption vulnerabilities in the most critical core state functions identified in the IMF 2018 Enhanced Governance Framework. For Nepal, the GCD will cover fiscal governance focused on public financial management and revenue administration, financial sector oversight, rule of law, and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). It will also assess the effectiveness of the anti-corruption legal and institutional frameworks in supporting macro-economic objectives.

Over the course of the scoping mission, the IMF team met with the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank, Constitutional Council, Supreme Court of Nepal, Judicial Council, Public Service Commission, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Office of the Auditor General, Office of the Attorney General, National Planning Commission, National Information Commission, National Vigilance Center, Financial Intelligence Unit, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Supplies, Finance Comptroller General’s Office, Inland Revenue Department, Department of Customs, and Special Court for Corruption Cases, among others. In addition, the IMF team met with a range of other stakeholders, including business associations, civil society organizations, and international development partners to gather holistic perspectives on governance challenges and anti-corruption efforts.

The IMF staff appreciates the Nepali authorities’ commitment to this diagnostic and looks forward to continuing the collaboration. The main GCD mission will be conducted in the coming months to further engagement and discussions on reform measures to strengthen governance and integrity, and economic outcomes. The GCD will culminate in a diagnostic report that will include an analysis of the nature and severity of corruption in Nepal, set out key findings identifying governance weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and proposing a targeted, sequenced, and prioritized reform plan to mitigate them.

See: Frequently Asked Questions on Governance Diagnostic