ISLAMABAD: According to The Express Tribune, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Pakistan is aiming to enter the double-B sovereign rating category through sustained economic improvements, citing an official Ministry of Finance statement issued on Wednesday.
Aurangzeb pointed to a fiscal deficit at a 22-year low, three consecutive years of primary surpluses and foreign exchange reserves at a historic high, covering three months of imports.
He held a series of meetings with international investors, credit rating agencies, multilateral lenders and US officials on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok. At the Citi Macro Forum and Standard Chartered Bank's Sovereign Investor Roundtable, he outlined a capital market strategy that includes further Panda bond issues, Sukuk and a proposed rupee-denominated, dollar-settled international bond, and said growth could reach or exceed 4% this fiscal year.
In a meeting with S&P Global Ratings, he highlighted strong investor participation in September's bond issue, progress under the IMF programme, better tax collection, reserve accumulation and lower swap and forward liabilities. S&P stressed policy continuity, reform implementation, a lower interest burden and stronger external buffers.
At the MENAP meeting with the IMF managing director, Aurangzeb cited 3.7% economic growth and the October 7 staff-level agreement, and reaffirmed a commitment to targeted, budget-neutral and time-bound subsidies to protect low-income groups.
With Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) President Zou Jiayi, he identified power transmission and railway modernisation as priorities; the AIIB is targeting approval of a transmission project before the end of the year. Talks also covered the Karachi-Rohri section of the ML-1 railway, possible co-financing with the Asian Development Bank and emergency budget support for energy and food security pressures.
He also met IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke and MIGA Managing Director Tsutomu Yamamoto, welcoming MIGA's revised pricing. Talks with the US State Department covered a trade framework agreement, Reko Diq, critical minerals, Boeing aircraft acquisition and digital asset regulation.