Focus now on investment, capital formation: FinMin

Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb addressed the "Fireside Chat: Pakistan: External Shocks Remain Manageable" at the JP Morgan Emerging and Frontier Markets Opportunities Conference in London, outlining Pakistan's progress in restoring macroeconomic stability and its priorities to move towards investment, capital formation, exports and private sector-led growth.

The conference saw strong interest in Pakistan from leading global institutional investors and top money managers, with 55 global investment funds engaging with the Pakistani delegation through a number of one-on-one meetings and a full investor session. Discussions focused on Pakistan's future economic direction, investment opportunities and the sustainability of its ongoing economic transformation. Amin Khowaja, CEO and Country Head JP Morgan Pakistan, was also present during the meetings.

Setting out the government's economic direction, the finance minister outlined six key priorities: bringing permanence to macroeconomic stability and strengthening fiscal and external shock-absorbing capacity; moving from stabilisation to sustainable and responsible growth driven by productivity, investment and exports; staying the course on structural reforms; moving from aid to trade and investment; expanding access to finance for people and communities; and positioning Pakistan for the new economy, including digitalisation, blockchain and Web 3.0.

Aurangzeb said that over the last three years, Pakistan's overriding task had been to restore macroeconomic stability and rebuild credibility. He noted that significant progress had been made in fiscal consolidation, external-sector stability, inflation, debt management and international market access.

GDP growth recovered to 3.7% in FY26, while fiscal deficit declined to 2.6% of GDP, a multi-year low.