{"id":2547,"date":"2026-10-12T12:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T07:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T07:03:43","slug":"pakistan-targets-over-4-growth-1bn-plus-from-privatisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2547","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan targets over 4% growth, $1bn-plus from privatisation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pakistan\u2019s economy is \u200bexpected to grow by more than 4% this fiscal year despite elevated oil prices, as the government looks to \u200cpush for the privatisation of five to six entities that could raise upwards of $1 billion, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told Reuters on Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s economy is considered to be vulnerable<\/a> to a prolonged Middle East conflict given its dependence on Gulf energy imports, remittances and financing support from the region, even as it remains reliant \u200bon external financing<\/a> to bolster foreign exchange reserves and meet debt repayments.<\/p>\n

The country \u200bhas been able to procure adequate quantities of fuel, successfully avoiding any shortages, and critical sectors such as \u2060agriculture were holding up, Aurangzeb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m still quite clear that we should clock north of 4%,\u201d he said in an interview \u200bon the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Bangkok.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd on the inflation side, obviously, we \u200bare keeping a very close eye because it does have a knock-on impact in terms of the commodity prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a period of severe economic turmoil exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy has recovered some of its footing<\/a>, supported by a $7 billion, 37-month IMF loan program<\/a>me known as the Extended Fund Facility \u200bsigned in 2024 that includes some tough measures such as raising tax revenue on farm income.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Exchange stabilisation facility<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The US-Israeli-led war with \u200bIran, now in its eighth month, and the inflation and hardship it has caused, will dominate the agenda and sideline conversations during the meetings that \u200care being \u2060held outside Washington for the first time in three years.<\/p>\n

Pakistan, which reached a staff-level agreement<\/a> with the IMF last week, potentially unlocking about $1.21 billion in financing under the Extended Fund Facility and a climate programme, is continuing discussions with the United States for a proposed $10 billion exchange stabilisation facility<\/a>, Aurangzeb said.<\/p>\n

But he declined to provide a time frame for the conclusion of negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it comes through, this will be \u200ba great help for us,\u201d \u200bhe said, referring to the facility, \u2060which is in addition to ongoing talks with the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t come through, this does not, you know, create any problem \u200bfor us in terms of access to market.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Privatisation push<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Following the privatisation of flag carrier Pakistan \u200bInternational Airlines last \u2060year, Aurangzeb said the government has around another dozen entities in the pipeline, including state-owned power distribution companies and the outsourcing of airport operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect about five or six of these to go through during this fiscal year,\u201d he said, adding that they could raise more than $1 billion.<\/p>\n

\u2060Privatisation has \u200bbeen seen as a key test of Pakistan\u2019s reform credibility with the IMF, with \u200bofficials previously underlining<\/a> that failure to offload loss-making state firms risked renewed pressure on public finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are quite clear that we want the private sector to lead the country,\u201d said Aurangzeb.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo \u200bour role is to help support, assist in any way we can in terms of the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan\u2019s economy is \u200bexpected to grow by more than 4% this fiscal year despite elevated oil prices, as the government looks to \u200cpush for the privatisation of five to six entities that could raise upwards of $1 billion, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told Reuters on Monday. Pakistan\u2019s economy is considered to be vulnerable to a prolonged Middle East conflict given its dependence on Gulf energy imports, remittances and financing support from the region, even as it remains reliant \u200bon external financing to bolster foreign exchange reserves and meet debt repayments.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}