Islamabad (HRNW)- Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that mobilizing private-sector capital is essential for Pakistan’s economic development and that the country will not be allowed to fall back into a cycle of economic boom and bust.
Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, the minister said investment promotion could be strengthened through public-private partnerships (PPPs) and privatization, while structural reforms are being implemented to ensure sustainable economic stability. He emphasized that transparency, efficiency and investor confidence would remain priorities in the privatization process, while greater private investment should be encouraged in infrastructure and public-service projects through PPPs.
Muhammad Aurangzeb said difficult economic decisions had helped achieve stability, which now needed to be made permanent. He said the overall deficit had declined from 12.5 percent to 2.6 percent, while FBR tax collections had increased significantly, with revenue rising by 40 percent in recent years and the tax-to-GDP ratio improving from 8.8 percent to 10.3 percent.
The finance minister said IT services exports reached $4.6 billion during the last fiscal year, with freelancers contributing $1.6 billion, while goods exports remained around $30 billion. He stressed that further work was required to expand exports and said reforms were underway in the energy, taxation, government institutions and privatization sectors.
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