Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Mohammad Aurangzeb, while speaking at Pakistan Conference 2025 at Harvard University, said that Pakistan had reached a pivotal moment of economic recovery and transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter inheriting an economy facing significant challenges\u2014from contracting GDP to depleting reserves\u2014we have stabilized the fundamentals, restored confidence, and reignited growth,\u201d he said at the conference titled \u201cBridging Divides, Building Tomorrow: Pakistan\u2019s Path to Inclusive Growth and Governance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pakistan Conference is an annual flagship event that brings together policymakers, academics, business leaders, and students to discuss Pakistan\u2019s economic, political, and social trajectory, according to press release issued by finance ministry here Monday.<\/p>\n
Organized by Harvard students with support from university research centers, the event is the largest student-led conference on Pakistan in the United States. The conference serves as a vital forum to advance collaborative solutions, promote global engagement, and showcase the creativity and resilience of the Pakistani people.<\/p>\n
Aurangzeb highlighted key achievements including a historic reduction in inflation to 0.7%, the lowest in 60 years; foreign exchange reserves doubled; a 3% currency appreciation; and a current account surplus exceeding $1 billion in March 2025.<\/p>\n
Pakistan also witnessed a 44% increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), a 24% rise in IT exports, and record-high remittances projected at $38 billion. For the first time in 24 years, Pakistan achieved a fiscal surplus, with the highest primary fiscal surplus in two decades. Fitch has upgraded Pakistan\u2019s credit sovereign credit rating to B- with a stable outlook.<\/p>\n
Emphasizing that \u201cstability is not an end but a means to an end, \u201d the Finance Minister outlined the government\u2019s strategy including maintaining fiscal discipline, controlling inflation, and pushing ahead with deep structural reforms in energy, taxation, governance, and the management of state-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n
He flagged major growth opportunities in Pakistan\u2019s rich mineral resources, expanding IT sector, green energy initiatives, and the country\u2019s youthful entrepreneurial population. Strengthening human development, he emphasized, is critical to sustaining high, inclusive growth.<\/p>\n
On debt management, the Minister noted that Pakistan successfully reduced its public debt-to-GDP ratio from 75% to 67.2%, with a plan to bring it below 60% over the medium term through prudent fiscal management, enhanced domestic financing, and tax reforms.<\/p>\n
Rightsizing government expenditures and privatizing loss-making state-owned enterprises are expected to save up to 2% of GDP annually, with efforts focusing on transparency, competitive processes, and investor confidence.
\nDiscussing Pakistan\u2019s financial sector, the Minister laid out plans to build a deeper and more resilient system by expanding digital banking, capital markets, green finance.<\/p>\n
Highlighting the impact of climate change, the Minister reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to integrating resilience into infrastructure and agriculture. He singled out Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) from IMF and Country Partnership Programme (CPF) approved by the World Bank as anchor for building climate resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan\u2019s future will be shaped by bold, necessary choices. By investing in our people, modernizing our economy, and staying committed to reform, Pakistan will emerge stronger, greener, and more competitive,\u201d concluded the Minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Mohammad Aurangzeb, while speaking at Pakistan Conference 2025 at Harvard University, said that Pakistan had reached a pivotal moment of economic recovery and transformation. \u201cAfter inheriting an economy facing significant challenges\u2014from contracting GDP to depleting reserves\u2014we have stabilized the fundamentals, restored confidence, and reignited growth,\u201d he said at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":73282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80248,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80221\/revisions\/80248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}