Pakistan on the global stage: What has changed? — II

The same evolution is visible in sovereign credit. Pakistan’s major ratings are now all back within the broader B category with stable outlooks, and our discussions with S&P, Moody’s and Fitch increasingly focused not on avoiding deterioration, but on what policy continuity, external buffers, lower interest burdens and institutional improvements would be required for the next step toward the BB category. S&P’s 2026 upgrade itself cited stronger institutional capacity, reform progress, fiscal consolidation and reserve accumulation.

That is a materially different conversation.

Investment — not debt — is the destination

The broader purpose of restoring macroeconomic stability is not stability for its own sake. It is to create conditions in which businesses can invest, exporters can compete, households can access finance and private capital can fund productive growth.

That is why our discussions in Bangkok went well beyond sovereign financing.

With IFC and other partners, we discussed private-sector investment in mining and minerals, agriculture and cold chains, housing, SMEs, pharmaceuticals, water and power infrastructure. With AIIB, OPEC Fund and other institutions, the conversation included electricity transmission, ML-1 railway modernisation, roads and public-private partnerships. With international banks and strategic investors, discussions covered refinery upgrades, DISCO privatisation, airport outsourcing, data centres, digital finance and capital-market development. With Alibaba, we discussed e-commerce, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, cross-border payments, SMEs and agricultural exports. With bilateral partners, opportunities ranged from critical minerals and aviation to trade, technology, energy and food security.

Also read: Pakistan on the global stage: What has changed? — I

These engagements sit alongside reforms already underway at home: broadening and digitising the tax base; improving public financial management; reforming energy pricing and distribution; restructuring and privatising state-owned enterprises; rationalising tariffs to improve export competitiveness; deepening capital markets; improving access to finance; digitising payments; and creating greater space for private enterprise. The IMF’s latest assessment similarly identifies tax reform, energy efficiency and private participation, privatisation, stronger SOE governance, reduced trade and regulatory barriers, deeper financial markets and improved governance as central to the transition toward higher productivity, exports, jobs and private investment.

Our message was therefore straightforward: Pakistan is seeking to move from aid to trade and investment; from public-sector dominance toward private-sector-led activity; and from periodic stabilisation toward an economy that earns more foreign exchange through exports, technology, investment and productivity.

There was another important dimension to this conversation. At a time when conflict itself has become an economic variable, Pakistan’s contribution to regional de-escalation was recognised alongside its economic progress. In our engagement with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, Pakistan’s mediation efforts during the recent U.S.–Iran crisis were specifically appreciated; regional peace and its economic consequences also featured in conversations with other partners.

Peace, stability and economics are increasingly inseparable. For Pakistan, contributing constructively to regional stability is not only a diplomatic imperative — it protects trade routes, energy security, investment, food systems and the economic prospects of an entire region.

Pakistan is also taking greater responsibility at the global table

Bangkok was significant for another reason: Pakistan left the Annual Meetings with greater responsibility in the international economic architecture.

Pakistan is the incoming Chair of the G-24, the grouping through which developing and emerging-market economies coordinate positions on international monetary and development issues. Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb currently serves as First Vice-Chair, with Pakistan preparing to assume the chairmanship and use the platform to advocate a more responsive international financial architecture, greater representation for developing economies and stronger access to development finance.

Pakistan also assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Council of the Borrowers’ Platform. Its purpose is important to understand: it is not a collective bargaining bloc or a crisis-management mechanism. It is intended as a forum for borrower countries to learn from one another, improve debt-management practices, share reform experiences, strengthen technical cooperation and explore innovative development-financing instruments — so that debt serves development rather than becoming an enduring constraint on it.

And, during the Bangkok Plenary, Pakistan was formally announced as the incoming Chair of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and IMF for 2027, with Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Pakistan’s WBG Governor Ahad Khan Cheema designated to serve in that capacity. Pakistan last held this chairmanship in 1953 —making the 2027 responsibility its first in more than seven decades. The official World Bank plenary recorded the selection, while Pakistan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs described the role as an opportunity to facilitate dialogue among member countries and contribute to global economic and development deliberations.

These positions should not be viewed as trophies. They are responsibilities. But at a time when developing economies are asking for more representative institutions, predictable development finance, greater mobilisation of private capital and more practical solutions to climate and debt vulnerabilities, Pakistan now has an opportunity — and an obligation — to contribute constructively.

The real test begins after Bangkok

I came away from Bangkok encouraged, but not complacent.

The international response to Pakistan has clearly improved. Investors are engaging more deeply. Banks are competing with more ideas. Development partners are looking at broader pipelines. Rating agencies are discussing the road upward rather than simply downside risks. Capital-market access has returned. The IMF programme remains on track. And Pakistan’s reform and investment proposition is receiving a level of serious engagement that would have been difficult to imagine during the acute instability of only a few years ago.

But credibility is cumulative — and reversible.

The next phase requires us to preserve fiscal and external discipline; continue tax, energy and SOE reforms; execute privatisations transparently; improve the business environment; maintain policy consistency; deepen capital markets; convert infrastructure concepts into bankable projects; and, above all, raise productivity and exports. The objective is not simply to complete an IMF programme. It is to build an economy that does not repeatedly need one.

That is the larger significance of Bangkok.

Unlike previous Annual Meetings, Bangkok marked a strategic shift in Pakistan’s global standing across five defining dimensions: economic resilience amid global shocks, diplomatic credibility as a peacemaker, renewed international investment confidence, leadership of key global financial platforms, and a stronger voice in global economic affairs— all converging to reflect Pakistan’s emergence as a more credible, influential and constructive player in the international economic order.

Pakistan arrived not to argue that its economic work was complete, but to demonstrate that the direction has changed. We presented a country that has rebuilt buffers amid geopolitical and economic shocks; restored market access; improved sovereign credibility; remained committed to reform; and is increasingly asking global partners to look at Pakistan not merely through the lens of financing requirements, but through the lens of investment opportunity, resilience and long-term growth.

The message we heard back — across investors, creditors, rating agencies, multilaterals, policymakers, financial institutions and development partners — was that the progress is being recognised.

Our task now is to convert that recognition into better financing, greater investment, more competitive exports, stronger businesses, productive jobs and sustainable growth.

That is the transition Pakistan must now deliver: from stabilisation to investment; from credibility to productivity; and from crisis management to durable, export-led growth and shared prosperity.

(Concluded)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026