Islamabad: Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb has reaffirmed the government's full support for privatization and public-private partnerships to mobilize private capital. Addressing an event organized by Asian Development Bank in Islamabad today, he outlined the government's core priorities including enabling the private sector to drive economic growth, staying the course on structural reforms, and preventing a return to boom-and-bust cycles.

According to Radio Pakistan, the Finance Minister highlighted fiscal progress, noting that revenues have grown by forty percent over the last two years, while efforts to curb expenditures remain ongoing. He mentioned that the tax-to-GDP ratio currently stands at ten point three percent with a short-term target of reaching eleven to twelve percent.

Expressing satisfaction over the tech sector, Aurangzeb noted that IT exports reached 4.6 billion dollars during the last fiscal year, with freelancers contributing 1.6 billion dollars. He stated that the target is to register an economic growth rate of over four percent for the current fiscal year and that foreign exchange reserves stood at 18.5 billion dollars as of June 30th, with a goal to reach twenty-one billion dollars by the end of this fiscal year.

Addressing the event, Adviser on Privatization Muhammad Ali emphasized that the future of Pakistan's economic growth will be led by the private sector. He mentioned that the federal Public Private Partnership Authority, branded as P3A, is being consolidated under the privatization division to simplify procedures, increase coordination, and bring in more efficiency.

The Adviser highlighted that thirty-eight projects worth six point five billion dollars are currently in PPP mode across sectors such as roads, railways, hospitals, hospitality, aviation, and industrial estates. In privatization, he stated that they are working on twenty-seven transactions, including power distribution companies, airports, insurance companies, and banks. He noted that Pakistan has demonstrated its capability and commitment to privatize its assets, following the sale of PIA.