ISLAMABAD: United States (US) Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome on Monday held his first meeting with Omar Ayub Khan, the parliamentary leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and a key aide to former prime minister Imran Khan, the US embassy said.

Khan is the founder of Pakistan’s main opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has accused Washington of siding with the powerful military and Khan’s political rivals to orchestrate his ouster from the PM’s office in April 2022. All three have denied the accusation.

The PTI has since sought support from US lawmakers in investigating alleged rights abuses and crackdown on its supporters in the wake of Khan’s unprecedented campaign of defiance against the country’s powerful military.

“US Ambassador Donald Blome met today with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan and other senior members of the opposition to discuss a broad range of issues important to the bilateral relationship, including US support for continued economic reforms, human rights, and regional security,” the US embassy said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Khan’s PTI told reporters Blome’s meeting with Omar Ayub had been requested by the US embassy through the Pakistani foreign ministry.

“Ambassador Blome underscored the United States’ support for Pakistan to engage constructively with the IMF on its reform program,” the US embassy said, adding that the envoy highlighted the importance of long-term reforms for sustainable economic growth of Pakistan.

Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off a sovereign default, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program.

The PTI, in a letter written to the IMF earlier this year, had asked the global lender to factor in the country’s political stability in any further bailout talks with Pakistan, according to party members familiar with the matter.

Khan’s opponents previously accused him of scuttling an IMF deal under a $6 billion Extended Fund Facility days before leaving his office, a charge he denies.

Pakistan narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April from a record high 38 percent last May.

It is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year compared to negative growth last year.

Pakistan and the IMF are expected to begin formal talks for a fresh program after the arrival of an IMF team in Islamabad in the mid of May. Islamabad has said it expects a staff-level agreement by July.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s benchmark share index closed at another all-time high by registering a 1.2 percent gain as bulls celebrated the arrival of a high-level investment delegation from Saudi Arabia, analysts said on Monday.

The KSE-100 index witnessed a bullish trend, gaining an intraday high of 1,158.65 points that marked a 1.61 percent increase. It closed at 72,764.24 points, up by 1.20 percent.

Stock analysts said the major contributing factor behind the bullish close was the arrival of a 50-member Saudi business delegation in Pakistan for potential investments and a drop in inflation.

“Today’s all the bullish activity was because of the Saudi delegation visiting Pakistan to explore investment opportunities,” Sheheryar Butt, portfolio manager at Darson Securities, told Arab News. 

The delegation, led by Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday. It comprises representatives of some 30 Saudi companies from the fields of IT, telecom, energy, aviation, construction, mining exploration, agriculture and human resource development.

Butt said the encouraging remarks by the visiting Saudi investment minister on Monday also played a key role in keeping the market in the green zone.

Addressing an investment summit in Islamabad, the Saudi minister said Pakistan was a “high priority” economic opportunity and the Kingdom believed in the potential of Pakistan’s economy, demographics and talent as well as location and natural resources.

Speaking at the summit, Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said foreign investment was vital to macroeconomic stability in Pakistan and the visit of Saudi investors was a link in this chain.

Auzrangzeb said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s successful visit to Saudi Arabia opened the way for economic cooperation between the two countries.

“The visit of a delegation of Saudi investors to Pakistan is also a part of paving the way for this economic cooperation,” the minister said. “The government is now moving toward privatization and PIA [Pakistan International Airlines] will also be privatized.”

He said export-led growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) and excess to capital were top priorities of the government, and it was working on short, medium and long-term strategies as well as structural economic reforms.

Ali Nawaz, CEO of Chase Securities, attributed the bullish trend at the stock market to the arrival of the Saudi investment delegation.

“This news likely injected optimism into the market as it suggests potential for increased foreign investment, bolstering investor confidence,” Nawaz said.

Other factors, he said, included a decline in inflation that fueled a positive sentiment.

“Lower inflation rates typically indicate a healthier economic environment, fostering expectations of potential interest rate cuts in the future,” he added.