Aurangzeb Says Pakistan Will Not Return to Boom-and-Bust Economic Cycle
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said the government is committed to preventing Pakistan from returning to its traditional boom-and-bust economic cycle, stressing that greater private-sector investment is essential for sustainable economic growth. He was speaking at an event organized by the Asian Development Bank in Islamabad.
Aurangzeb said the government was pursuing a structural reform agenda aimed at achieving durable economic stability. He identified public-private partnerships (PPPs) and privatization as important tools for mobilizing private capital, particularly in infrastructure and public services. He added that transparency, performance and investor confidence would remain priorities throughout the privatization process.
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The finance minister said economic stability had been achieved through difficult decisions and emphasized the need to make these gains permanent. He said the government was targeting economic growth of more than four percent during the current fiscal year, while foreign exchange reserves stood at $18.5 billion as of June 30, with a target of increasing them to $21 billion by the end of the fiscal year.
He highlighted improvements in Pakistan’s fiscal and tax indicators, saying the overall deficit had declined from 12.5 percent to 2.6 percent. Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) tax collection has also increased by 40 percent in recent years, while the tax-to-GDP ratio has improved from 8.8 percent to 10.3 percent, according to the minister.
Aurangzeb said IT services exports reached $4.6 billion in the previous fiscal year, including $1.6 billion contributed by freelancers, while overall exports remained around $30 billion. He said further efforts were needed to expand the sector and added that reforms were underway in energy, government institutions, taxation and privatization to strengthen the economy and support long-term growth.
