Pakistan eyes more G2G investment from Saudi Arabia, says Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb expects more government-to-government (G2G) inflows from Saudi Arabia into Pakistan in the coming months.

The finance czar made these remarks in an interview with Forbes, where Aurangzeb shed light on key economic reforms, investment opportunities, and Pakistan’s growth trajectory.

“We have seen the institutional flows coming back into the country. We are now beginning to see some FDI coming in, including some B2B transactions, which have happened from Saudi Arabia, and hopefully more G2G as we go forward during the course of this year,” he said.

The finance minister reiterated that Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators have improved in the last 12 to 14 months.

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“We have made very significant progress with respect to macroeconomic stability whether it is inflation, policy rate, interest rate, currency stability or improvement in foreign exchange reserves. On the back of that we have been executing structural reforms,” said Aurangzeb.

The finance minister said working on these structural forms would give “sustainability to the macro situation before we start talking about sustainable growth”.

The finance minister shared that the government aims to attract investment both local and international in key sectors including mines and minerals, agriculture and IT.

“We are endowed with copper reserves which can be real game-changers,” he said.

In addition, Aurangzeb highlighted that the country is home to the third-largest freelancing community in the world.

On climate financing, the finance minister acknowledged that Pakistan is among the most climate-vulnerable countries.

“We have to come up with investable, bankable projects, both in terms of financing which is coming in but also local and foreign investment into this area as well,” he said.

Talking about regional connectivity, the finance minister emphasized the importance of corridors linking the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Central Asian Republics (CARs),

“I think the local corridors and regional connectivity is going to be increasingly important”.

“We have already been part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with respect to China, but going forward GCC and Central Asian Republics are going to become extremely important corridors of trade as we go forward,” he said.