KARACHI: Shah Nawaz walks Karachi’s dusty streets, one of thousands in the financial hub who are being fed by charities as Pakistan’s economy picks up pace — but, some say, not fast enough for its poverty-stricken millions.
Confidence in Pakistan is growing, with the International Monetary Fund claiming in October that the country has emerged from crisis and stabilized its economy after completing a bailout program.
Its credit rating has improved, while there are encouraging signs of foreign investment, such as a massive Chinese infrastructure project officials routinely call a “gamechanger.”
But all this glittering promise has yet to feed millions like Nawaz.
The 14-year-old stands waiting with more than 100 others outside the Saylani Welfare building to receive free meals twice a day for his family.
He dropped out of school four years ago, when Pakistan’s GDP still hovered around a weak three percent, as his family struggled to survive on his father’s meagre part-time wage of 250 rupees ($2.30) a day.
“I have immense passion for my studies and want to become a prosperous man, but I can’t,” he tells AFP.
His despair resonates throughout Pakistan, where a new central bank report says 60.6 percent of the population do not have access to cooking fuel, half of all children are deprived of a basic education, and a third of Pakistanis have no access to a primary medical facility.
“The number of people coming to our centers is growing, and they are not beggars but poor people who are not able to make ends meet,” Aamir Saylani, one of the charity’s officials, told AFP.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to boost the long-depressed economy after winning a third term in 2013.
The key challenge Sharif faced was a chronic energy crisis, as power outages shut down factories and bring businesses to a virtual standstill daily.
He approved more than a dozen coal, hydro, gas and combined cycle power generation plants, most due to begin generating electricity by mid-2017.
Meanwhile his advisers negotiated a three-year extended fund facility with the IMF to raise $6.4 billion. That, coupled with remittances from Pakistanis overseas, have taken foreign exchange reserves to an estimated $22 billion, from $3 billion in 2008.
In the 2015/2016 fiscal year the economy grew 4.7 percent, while inflation was at a low of 3.8 percent and interest rates down at 5.75 percent.
Encouraged — and undeterred by domestic debt of $182 billion — Islamabad set an ambitious yearly growth target of 5.7 percent for 2016/2017. The World Bank predicted 5.4 percent growth by 2018.
'Artificial support'
But independent economists doubt the growth is sustainable.
“You were on artificial support, and it will be a real litmus test for the government once the IMF facility is over,” said Abid Suleri, who heads the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad.
It would take sustained growth of around six percent for five successive years to make a real dent in poverty, said Mohammad Sabir, a senior economist at the Social Policy and Development Center (SPDC) in Karachi.
Hopes are pinned on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $46 billion initiative by Beijing that aims to link the Asian superpower’s Xinjiang region with the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
The plan encompasses a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades that Islamabad hopes will kickstart the economy.
But experts say the deal is opaque, and much more transparency is needed before they can assess any impact for Pakistan — including, for example, whether the $46 billion is an investment or a loan.
“If it is a loan, it would severely hamper the future foreign payment capability of the country,” warned Sabir. Foreign debt remains around $73 million, just over a quarter of GDP, the central bank says.
Werner Liepach, Pakistan country director for the Asian Development Bank, told AFP it was “much too early to tell” what effect CPEC would have.
However given the challenging global context, “contrary to what many believe, Pakistan is actually doing quite well,” he said.
“The benefits of growth in Pakistan are actually more widespread... as compared to many other developing countries that may show higher levels of growth, but with greater inequality.”
Nevertheless there is room to improve, he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistanis like Shah Nawaz still struggle. Days after speaking to AFP, the building housing the charity providing food for his family was flattened in an operation targeting illegal settlements on government land.
Pakistan economy growing... but is it enough?
Pakistan economy growing... but is it enough?
Saudi Arabia sets global benchmark in AI modernization
- Executives hail the Kingdom’s robust infrastructure and strategic workforce programs
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is emerging as a global leader in artificial intelligence, according to executives from OpenText, one of the world’s largest enterprise information management companies.
With 22 years of international AI experience, Harald Adams, OpenText’s senior vice president of sales for international markets, said the Kingdom’s modernization efforts are now setting a global standard.
“From my perspective, Saudi Arabia is not only leading the modernization towards artificial intelligence in the Middle East, I think it is even not leading it only in the MENA region. I think it is leading it globally,” Adams told Arab News.
In an interview, Adams and George Schembri, vice president and general manager for the Middle East at OpenText, discussed the Kingdom’s significant investments in AI during the inauguration of OpenText’s new regional headquarters in Riyadh.
“So for us (OpenText), from our perspective, it was a strategic decision to move our MENA headquarters to Saudi Arabia because we believe that we will see here a lot of innovation coming out of the country, we can replicate not only to the MENA region, maybe even further to the global level,” Adams said.
The new headquarters, located in the King Abdullah Financial District, will serve as a central hub for OpenText customers and partners across the Middle East. Its opening reflects a broader trend of tech giants relocating to Riyadh, signaling the Kingdom’s rise as a hub for global AI innovation.
Adams attributed Saudi Arabia’s lead in AI modernization to a combination of substantial financial backing, a unified national strategy, and a remarkable pace of execution.
“I mean, a couple of things, because the ingredients in Saudi Arabia are of course, quite interesting. On the one hand side, Saudi Arabia has deep pockets and great ambitions. And they are, I mean, and they are executing fast, yeah,” he said.
“So from that perspective, at the moment, what we see is that there are, especially on the government side, I can’t see any other government organizations globally moving faster into that direction than it is happening in Saudi Arabia. Not in the region, not even on a global level, they are leading the game,” he underlined.
Schembri added, “Saudi’s AI vision is one of the most ambitious in the world, and AI on a national scale is not good without trusted, secured, and governed, and this is where OpenText helps to enable the Saudi organizations to be able to deliver on the 2030 Vision.”
“The Kingdom’s focus on AI and digital transformation creates a powerful opportunity for organizations to unlock value from their information,” Schembri stated.
“With OpenText on the ground in Riyadh, our customers gain direct access to trusted global expertise combined with local insight — enabling them to manage information securely, scale AI with confidence, and compete on a global stage,” he added.
DID YOU KNOW?
• Saudi Arabia ranks 5th globally and 1st in the region for AI growth under the 2025 Global AI Index.
• The Kingdom is also 3rd globally in advanced AI model development, trailing only the US and China.
• AI is projected to contribute $235.2 billion — or 12.4 percent — to Saudi Arabia’s GDP by 2030.
The inauguration of OpenText’s new regional headquarters was attended by Canada’s Minister of International Trade and Economic Development, Maninder Sidhu, and Jean-Philippe Linteau, Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Sidhu emphasized the alignment of Saudi Vision 2030 with Canada’s economic and innovation goals.
“His Highness (Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) and Vision 2030, there is a lot of alignment with Canada, as you know, with the economic collaboration, with his vision around mining, around education, tourism, healthcare, you look at AI and tech, there’s a lot of alignment here at OpenText Grand opening their regional headquarters,” Sidhu told Arab News.
Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions are projected to contribute $235.2 billion — or 12.4 percent — to its GDP by 2030, according to PwC. The Saudi Data and AI Authority, established by a royal decree in 2019, drives the Kingdom’s national data and AI strategy.
One flagship initiative, Humain, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was launched in May 2025 under the Public Investment Fund. It aims to build a full AI stack — from data centers and cloud infrastructure to models and applications — positioning Saudi Arabia as a globally competitive AI hub. The project plans to establish a data center capacity of 1.8 GW by 2030 and 100 GW of AI compute capacity by 2026.
Saudi Arabia is also expanding international partnerships. In May 2025, Humain signed a $5 billion agreement with Amazon Web Services to accelerate AI adoption domestically and globally, focusing on infrastructure, services, and talent development.
The Kingdom ranked fifth globally and first in the Arab region for AI sector growth under the 2025 Global AI Index, and third worldwide in advanced AI model development, behind only the US and China, according to the Stanford University AI Index 2025.
Education is another pillar of Saudi AI strategy. Starting in the 2025-26 academic year, AI will be taught as a core subject across all public school grades, reaching roughly 6.7 million students. The curriculum will cover algorithmic thinking, data literacy, and AI ethics.
OpenText executives emphasized their commitment to supporting Vision 2030 and the national AI strategy through workforce development.
“OpenText has put a lot of investment in the Kingdom, right. We brought cloud to the Kingdom, we’ve opened our headquarters in the Kingdom, we’ve basically hiring Saudis in the Kingdom, We basically building, if you like, an ecosystem to support the Kingdom. And on top of that, what we’re doing is we’re putting a plan together, if you like, a program to look at how we can educate, if you like, the students at universities,” Schembri said.
“So this is something that we are looking into, we are basically investigating and to see how we can support the Saudi nationals when they come into the workplace. And I’m really excited. I have Harry who is, our leadership who’s supporting this program.”
“It’s something that we are putting together. It’ll take some effort. So it’s still in play because we want to make sure what we put it basically delivers on what we're trying to achieve based on the vision of Saudi,” he added.
“The younger generation is sooner or later either working for us or maybe for a partner or for maybe for a customer. So that’s why we are to 100 percent committed to enable all of that,” Adams said.
