{"id":27977,"date":"2025-04-25T12:27:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T12:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/?p=27977"},"modified":"2025-04-25T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T12:28:00","slug":"pakistan-eyes-capital-markets-return-bolsters-investors-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/?p=27977","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan eyes capital markets return, bolsters investors\u2019 confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Finance Minister showcases Pakistan\u2019s economic reforms, secures global support<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington, D.C. : Fiinance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb concluded the fourth day of his visit to Washington, D.C., for the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank with a series of constructive meetings with key financial institutions, rating agencies, and global corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finance Minister started his engagements by meeting with VISA’s Regional Vice President, Mr. Andrew Torre. He expressed appreciation for VISA\u2019s contribution to the digitalization of Pakistan\u2019s economy and the introduction of its various financial products. Minister Aurangzeb noted that VISA\u2019s decision to triple the size of its office in Pakistan and its collaboration with 1-Link and PayPak would significantly contribute to promoting financial inclusion, e-commerce, transaction security, and payment gateways, and facilitate remittances. He assured Mr. Torre of the government\u2019s full support in addressing any operational matters in Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that, Minister Aurangzeb held a meeting with Mr. Christos Harpanditis, Vice President of Philip Morris International. Acknowledging the company\u2019s longstanding commitment to Pakistan, the Finance Minister highlighted the improving business climate and the government\u2019s taxation reforms focused on people, process, and technology. The Finance Minister emphasized the critical need for effective enforcement and compliance measures to curb the illicit production and sale of cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a seminar titled \u201cPakistan\u2019s Economic and Monetary Policy Outlook\u201d, hosted by JP Morgan, the Finance Minister briefed institutional investors on Pakistan\u2019s stable macroeconomic indicators, including twin surpluses, declining inflation, robust forex reserves, and sound debt management\u2014factors that contributed to Fitch\u2019s recent sovereign credit rating upgrade. He also expressed deep concern over the loss of tourists\u2019 lives in a terrorist incident in India, reiterating Pakistan\u2019s unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all forms. The session concluded with an interactive Q&A with investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a meeting with Mr. Masato Kanda, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Minister Aurangzeb congratulated Mr. Kanda on his recent appointment and expressed appreciation for the ADB\u2019s enduring partnership with Pakistan and its contributions to the country\u2019s development through initiatives such as the Country Partnership Strategy 2026-2030 and budgetary support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two sides discussed ADB\u2019s project pipeline and committed to accelerating project execution. The Finance Minister requested ADB\u2019s support for a partial credit guarantee for the issuance of the Panda bond and expressed hope for the materialization of budgetary support this year. He assured Mr. Kanda of Pakistan\u2019s delegation\u2019s participation in the CAREC meeting scheduled for November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finance Minister held separate meetings with Fitch Ratings and Moody\u2019s, thanking Fitch for upgrading Pakistan\u2019s sovereign rating to B- and outlining progress on structural reforms in energy, taxation, SOEs, public finance, and debt management. With Moody\u2019s, he highlighted strong economic indicators, including low inflation, fiscal surpluses, and record remittances, while emphasizing reforms to broaden the tax base. On trade matters, he reiterated Pakistan\u2019s commitment to constructive engagement with the US Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finance Minister met with Mr. Sangbu Kim, World Bank\u2019s Vice President for Digital Transformation, and highlighted Pakistan\u2019s progress under the Digital Pakistan Policy, particularly in taxation reforms and the end-to-end digitization of the FBR (Federal Board of Revenue). Emphasizing the need for horizontal integration across government entities, he sought the Bank\u2019s support in operationalizing the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) through technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Vulnerable 20 (V20) Ministerial Dialogue, themed \u201cEnabling Climate Prosperity,\u201d Senator Aurangzeb outlined Pakistan\u2019s Climate Financial Strategy and the development of a Climate Prosperity Plan. He highlighted the recent staff-level agreement with the IMF under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) and noted that the World Bank\u2019s 10-year CPF prioritizes climate resilience and decarbonization. The Minister called for reforms in international financial architecture to support climate-vulnerable nations and stressed the need for capacity-building to develop bankable climate projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finance Minister also interacted with members of the Pakistan Bank-Fund Staff Association (PBFSA), briefing them on Pakistan\u2019s improving macroeconomic indicators, including the successful IMF staff-level agreement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and RSF. He also discussed the World Bank\u2019s 10-year CPF, which addresses Pakistan\u2019s challenges in population growth and climate change, and reiterated the government\u2019s commitment to structural reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a meeting with Mr. Jihad Azour, IMF Director for the Middle East and Central Asia, the Finance Minister thanked the IMF for the successful staff-level agreement on Pakistan\u2019s economic program. He reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to sustaining reforms, citing Fitch\u2019s sovereign credit rating upgrade (CCC+ to B-) as validation of the country\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Aurangzeb concluded his day with a meeting with the Standard Chartered Bank delegation led by Mr. Roberto Hoornweg, appreciating the bank\u2019s role in bridging Pakistan\u2019s financing gap during a critical period. He briefed the team on Pakistan\u2019s macroeconomic stability, privatization program, and plans to re-enter international capital markets following the Fitch rating upgrade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finance Minister showcases Pakistan\u2019s economic reforms, secures global support Washington, D.C. : Fiinance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb concluded the fourth day of his visit to Washington, D.C., for the Spring… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[2383,312],"class_list":["post-27977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-main-stories","tag-federal-minister-for-finance-pakistan","tag-international-monetary-fund-imf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27979,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27977\/revisions\/27979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}