Finance minister courts global investors

Highlights investment opportunities, reforms in series of meetings with banking giants

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb attended a series of investor meetings, organised by Citibank, Standard Chartered and JPMorgan, and highlighted the positive trends in Pakistan's economy.

The minister, who is leading a Pakistani delegation to the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), being held in Washington DC from October 21-26, briefed investors about the positive performance of the economy during the last fiscal year (2023-24) and expressed satisfaction that all economic indicators were moving in the right direction.

Aurangzeb, in a meeting with Islamic Development Bank President Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, acknowledged the bank's role as a reliable partner in Pakistan's progress and appreciated its financing in diverse sectors such as energy, transportation, education and health, according to a press release issued by the finance ministry.

The minister had a luncheon meeting with the US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC), where he informed the participants that the presence of more than 80 US enterprises in Pakistan was a testimony to the profit potential of a 240-million strong market.

He invited US firms to benefit from the government's investment-friendly policies and one-window facility provided by the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

He also met with the representatives of JPMorgan Bank and highlighted important reforms in the areas of taxation, privatisation and the overhauling of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and expressed the resolve to tap into international capital markets through the issuance of inaugural Panda Bonds.

In a meeting with Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Development, Women and Equalities of the United Kingdom, he welcomed the contribution of $120 million to IFC's Climate Investment Fund for Pakistan.

He stressed that the State Bank had cleared the backlog of all cases for repatriation of profits and dividends. He invited UK companies to invest in agriculture, IT, mines and mineral sectors to avail of the opportunities emerging because of the improved investment climate.

The finance minister also met with Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank, and discussed Pakistan's development priorities supported by the Country Partnership Framework.

He briefed the MD about the Joint Domestic Resource Mobilisation Initiative being launched with the support of the World Bank and IMF.

He welcomed the decision of the board not to levy any commitment fee for four years for Program-for-Results Financing (PforR) and Investment Project Financing (IPF) instruments.

The minister participated in the Small Talks Forum, hosted by the Bank of America (BoFA) Securities, and provided an overview of the government's macroeconomic stabilisation efforts and the performance of the economy over the last year.

He reaffirmed the commitment of the government to all reforms under the IMF's Extended Fund Facility including in taxation, energy, privatisation and SOEs.

He pointed out that reforms were underway in the FBR in all three areas of people, process and technology and resolved that the government would tap international capital markets in due course.