Islamabad
\nFederal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that Pakistan is enjoying a moment of convergence between internal economic stability and favourable international dynamics.
\nIn a virtual address at the second edition of the Pakistan International Maritime Expo and Conference in Karachi, he said, \u201cWhere we are as a country, we find ourselves in a good spot at this point and time because there is a confluence of factors.\u201d
\nHe pointed to what he described as \u201cmacroeconomic stability combined with geopolitical tailwinds\u201d as the main drivers of this improved position.
\nAurangzeb underlined that the country\u2019s long-standing relationships with its partners can now be transformed from mere government-to-government engagements into tangible trade and investment flows. \u201cOur traditional partners, who have helped us through thick and thin \u2026 we find ourselves in a spot that we can now\u2026 move from government-to-government (G2G) discussions to trade and investment flows into the country,\u201d he told the conference.
\nOn the subject of global confidence in Pakistan\u2019s economic management, Aurangzeb said that after a gap of two to three years, three major global rating agencies are now aligned in their view, reporting upgrades this year and offering stable outlooks. \u201cAfter a hiatus of two to three years, we have three global rating agencies which are fully aligned \u2026 in terms of the upgrades we have seen over the course of this year, but also their outlook, which is stable for Pakistan\u2019s economy,\u201d he said. He stated that the country is currently a part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, and that the recently announced staff-level agreement was a testament to international confidence in Pakistani authorities.
\nBlue Economy
\nTurning to sectoral strategy, Aurangzeb described the \u201cblue economy\u201d as a potential game-changer for Pakistan. He said the sector currently accounts for roughly $1 billion (0.4-0.5% of Gross Domestic Product [GDP]) and aims to scale up significantly. \u201cWe are hovering at about 0.4 to 0.5 per cent of the national gross domestic product, which equates to roughly $1 billion,\u201d he said, adding that Pakistan\u2019s \u201creal potential\u201d was as high as $3 trillion.
\nThe minister also emphasised that policy consistency would be central to achieving these goals. \u201cAs finance minister, I would like to assure you \u2026 on policy consistency. Whatever we say, we see it through the cycle. He outlined plans for seafood exports, currently sitting at approximately $500 million, to reach $2 billion over the next three to four years.
\nFurther strategic pillars identified included modernising ports and logistics, digitisation, renewable energy and innovative financing such as blue bonds and blended finance.
\nThe remarks signal Pakistan\u2019s intent to harness a window of favourable external conditions and internal reform momentum to accelerate growth. However, ambitious targets and promises of sustained policy consistency will demand careful execution, strengthened institutional frameworks and deeper market confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that Pakistan is enjoying a moment of convergence between internal economic stability and favourable international dynamics. In a virtual address at the second edition of the Pakistan International Maritime Expo and Conference in Karachi, he said, \u201cWhere we are as a country, we find ourselves …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":89136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89131","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\/89131","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=89131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89137,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89131\/revisions\/89137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}