Pakistan's economy is improving, says Muhammad Aurangzeb

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb Thursday said Pakistan’s economy is moving in the right direction and improving.

Addressing the Pakistan Saudi Arabia Business Forum, Aurangzeb said that the government’s role was not to do business, but to facilitate the private sector. He welcomed Saudi Arabian delegates to promote trade and investment through a Business-to-Business (B2B) model.

The minister cited significant progress in macroeconomic stability over the past 12-14 months. Pakistan achieved a primary surplus, reduced its current account deficit to less than $1 billion, stabilized its currency, and increased foreign exchange reserves to cover two months of imports.

Muhammad Aurangzeb noted that these gains have been consolidated in the current fiscal year, with strong remittances, export growth, and a reduction in inflation from 38% to 6.9%. The decrease in policy rate has also benefited businesses.

Pakistan’s credit rating has been upgraded however added more was to be done to get the rate at B- at least. He said, institutional flows were coming back to country on both the debt and equity sides.

The Islamabad Stock Exchange reached a record high, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board approved an extended program for the country.

He said, the IMF programme has two implications including bringing permanence in macroeconomic stability and secondly to execute structural reforms.

Muhamamd Aurangzeb reaffirmed Pakistan government’s commitment to structural reforms, promoting sustainable growth and tax reform.