Finance Minister (FM) Muhammad Aurangzeb has said government is active with reference to privatization process and 28 more state owned enterprises have been assigned to Privatization Commission (PC) for privatization.
\nAddressing the inaugural session of Pakistan Banking Summit-2026 in Karachi he said overall GDP growth rate remained 3.7 percent due to growth in larger industries.
\nCurrent account remained stable due to remittances current account remained stable.
\nHe held that volume of remittances is estimated to remain 41 to 42 billion dollars of fiscal year 2026. Value added exports has also played vital role in economic stability of the country.
\nForeign exchange reserves have reached 18.4 billion dollars in 2026 and Pakistan gained access to global investment markets including Euro bonds again wherein PANDA bonds figured high in importance. .
\nHe pointed out 11 IPO were introduced in Pakistan Stock Exchange during the previous financial year. Young investors are participating in stock market enthusiastically.
\nGovernment utilized its own resources instead of seeking international aid to deal with 2025 floods.
\nSuper tax has been abolished on the business valuing less than Rs 50 crore in the federal budget so that the small business could be promoted. Relief has been provided to small business while all duties have been abolished on agriculture machinery.
\nHe indicated government is integrating retail sector to tax system to expand tax net. Human interference is being curtailed in tax collection system through use of modern technology.
\nHe held government is not supportive of final tax regime and instead it wants to introduce such simple and effective system wherein every citizen pays tax according to one\u2019s capability.
\nHe indicated monthly investment rose from 18 crore dollars to 30 crore dollars in Roshan Digital Accounts during last three months. Providing better access to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to financial resources
\nHe announced the establishment of a dedicated SME Finance Task Force to expand access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
\nHe called for an industry-wide effort to increase private sector lending and outlined the Government\u2019s broader agenda for banking sector reforms and sustainable economic growth.
\nThe Task Force will be led by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) with senior representation from the Pakistan Banks\u2019 Association (PBA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), chambers of commerce and industry, and the Ministry of Finance.
\nIt will recommend practical measures to improve SME financing and broaden access to credit across the banking industry.
\nEmphasizing the banking sector\u2019s role in driving economic growth, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb said that increased lending to SMEs, exporters, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, housing, and the information technology sector is a mission critical for achieving sustainable economic growth. He stressed that access to finance for SMEs must become an industry-wide effort rather than the responsibility of only a few institutions. He also mentioned the required budgetary allocations for these sector that has already been done in the Budget FY27.
\nThe Finance Minister reaffirmed the Government\u2019s commitment to expanding risk-sharing and partial credit guarantee schemes, particularly for SMEs and small farmers, while continuing targeted financing support for export-oriented sectors. He also emphasized the need to diversify Government borrowing through non-bank financing channels and deepen domestic debt capital markets to reduce reliance on the banking sector and create greater space for private sector lending.
\nSenator Muhammad Aurangzeb further highlighted the Government\u2019s broader financial sector reform agenda, including privatization, climate finance, digital assets, and financial innovation. He noted that the recently enacted Virtual Asset Act 2026 had established a modern regulatory framework for digital assets and said the Government was actively exploring innovative financing instruments, including the tokenization of sovereign debt. He also underscored the importance of strengthening cyber resilience as a shared national responsibility to support Pakistan\u2019s digital financial ecosystem.
\nConcluding his address, the Finance Minister reaffirmed the Government\u2019s commitment to working closely with the banking industry and all stakeholders to build a modern, inclusive, and resilient financial system capable of supporting investment, innovation, and sustainable economic growth.
\nCommercial banks should ensure cyber security. Governor state bank should move ahead with reference to cyber security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finance Minister (FM) Muhammad Aurangzeb has said government is active with reference to privatization process and 28 more state owned enterprises have been assigned to Privatization Commission (PC) for privatization. Addressing the inaugural session of Pakistan Banking Summit-2026 in Karachi he said overall GDP growth rate remained 3.7 percent due to growth in larger industries. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99933","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\/99933","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=99933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99968,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99933\/revisions\/99968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}