This study was undertaken in 2017-18 within the scope of the Public Financial Management—Support Programme for Pakistan (PFM-SPP), financed by the European Union. The study is now published under the auspices of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) in view of the importance of the analysis and issues addressed for the development and reform of planning and public investment management in Pakistan. In the period since the preparation of the study some important progress has been made in the field of study, notably the enactment of the Pakistan Public Financial Management Act in August 2019 that has already given legal backing for many of the recommendations for legal reform set out in this report. The study was prepared by a team assembled by Oxford Policy Management Ltd, the implementing agency for the PFM-SPP project.