Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has told Reuters that he expects Pakistan’s economy to expand by over 4 percent in FY2027, and that Islamabad wants more than a billion dollars from selling five or six publicly owned firms. The comments, made on Monday and reported by ProPakistani, came in Bangkok during yearly meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
How the minister described the outlook
Speaking alongside those gatherings, Aurangzeb said the economy was still moving as planned, even though oil has become expensive. He added that Pakistan had arranged enough fuel. Agriculture and other main parts of the economy, he said, were steady rather than slipping.
He placed the forecast inside a reform drive. Under that drive, privatization is meant to leave commercial activity mostly with private owners. The state, in his telling, would stand behind business and shape conditions in which investment can proceed.
The IMF loan and the American proposal
The IMF, short for the International Monetary Fund, is the global institution that lends when a country’s foreign payments are under pressure. Pakistan already has a loan arrangement with it. Last week the two sides reached an understanding at staff level, ProPakistani reported. That understanding could release about $1.21 billion, drawing on both the loan already running and a window tied to climate spending.
Islamabad is likewise seeking a proposed currency facility worth $10 billion from the United States. Aurangzeb described it as an exchange stabilization facility, which he cast as extra support. Negotiations are still open, and he has not given a date for concluding them. If the facility is never agreed, he said, Pakistan would not lose its route to investors in global markets. The money would help, he said, yet the country could keep borrowing in markets without it.
Which public companies are in the queue
Aurangzeb said the government has about a dozen entities waiting in the privatization queue. Electricity distributors are among them. Officials also plan to give private managers the job of running airports, rather than keeping that work inside the state. He expects to complete five or six deals before the present fiscal year ends. Taken together, they could bring in over a billion dollars.
The government treats the sales as part of its economic reform programme. The shift comes after Pakistan International Airlines moved to private owners last year. Aurangzeb said the aim is for business to carry the economy’s main weight, while the state helps and keeps the surrounding rules workable.
What remains unresolved
No date has been fixed for the Washington talks, so the $10 billion facility still has no timetable. The nearer markers are the five or six company sales planned for the fiscal year already in progress, and the staff understanding that could put about $1.21 billion within reach.
