Finance Minister’s engagements in Washington aim to boost Pakistan’s economy

WASHINGTON: Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is on a visit to the United States (US) with a chief aim of pursuing avenues to strengthen Pakistan’s economy and secure vital financial support.

He held a meeting with Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Isawa on Monday, where discussions focused on further enhancing Pakistan’s partnership with the financial organisation.

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Moreover, Aurangzeb’s participated in the meeting of G-24 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. During the discussions, he acknowledged the valuable assistance provided by international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to Pakistan.

Reforms in critical areas such as taxation, energy, privatisation, and digitalisation were also on the agenda. Minister Aurangzeb stated that investment in the private sector was vital to sustain Pakistan’s economy.

He also touched upon cooperation in addressing the challenges posed to the country by climate change. Aurangzeb leveraged the Adaptation Fund to mitigate the effects of climate change for developing countries like Pakistan.

The Adaptation Fund is an initiative established to help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate change. As per their website, the fund has provided over $1 billion for climate adaptation projects, benefiting 43 million people worldwide. The Fund allows countries to access funding directly and addresses challenges like food and water scarcity caused by climate change.

Similarly, Aurangzeb expressed hope regarding the approval of an $8 billion IMF loan programme. He engaged with high-ranking IMF officials and hoped for a “swift approval” of the loan programme. The finance minister said that the talks with the IMF went well, with both parties “committed to implementing an agenda of economic reforms through decisive actions”.

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The minister outlined a comprehensive strategy for economic reform, focused on the need to broaden the tax base and bring low-tax sectors into the tax net. He talked about widespread reforms over the next three years to address structural imbalances in the economy.

Aurangzeb also focused on bettering trade relations with key partners such as the US. He stated how privatisation of several sectors was essential in “streamlining government institutions”. He said the country needed to prioritise the prisatisation of entities like Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), with plans to complete the transaction by June.