ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb vowed to push ahead with structural reforms in Pakistan’s energy, taxation, governance, and other sectors to ensure sustainable economic growth at a Harvard University conference, state-run media reported on Monday.
Pakistan secured a $7 billion financial bailout program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September last year, as it moved to consolidate its economy after averting a default in 2023. Islamabad has since undertaken several reforms to reduce public debt, maintain low inflation, improve the energy sector’s viability, and accelerate growth.
Aurangzeb attended the Pakistan Conference at Harvard University, which, according to its website, is the “largest student-led gathering on Pakistan in the United States,” on Sunday. The conference is hosted by university students with the support of research centers. It convenes policymakers, academics, business leaders, and civil society experts to engage in critical discussions on Pakistan’s economic trajectory, governance, and global positioning.
“Emphasizing that ‘stability is not an end but a means to an end,’ the finance minister outlined the government’s strategy, including maintaining fiscal discipline, controlling inflation, and pushing ahead with deep structural reforms in energy, taxation, governance, and the management of state-owned enterprises,” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
The finance minister highlighted the government’s key economic achievements, which included a reduction in inflation to 0.7 percent year-on-year in March, the lowest in 60 years, an increase in Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, a three percent currency appreciation, and a current account surplus exceeding $1 billion in March 2025, APP said.
Aurangzeb also flagged major growth opportunities in Pakistan’s rich mineral resources, expanding information technology sector, green energy initiatives, and the country’s youthful entrepreneurial population, it added.
“Pakistan’s future will be shaped by bold, necessary choices,” the finance minister was quoted as saying by APP. “By investing in our people, modernizing our economy, and staying committed to reform, Pakistan will emerge stronger, greener, and more competitive.”
The finance minister arrived in Washington earlier this month to attend the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings 2025. During his visit to the American capital, he met his counterparts from other countries, including senior officials of the IMF and the World Bank. Aurangzeb took part in panel discussions to highlight Pakistan’s economic achievements and spoke to international media outlets as well.
Pakistan finmin vows to push ahead with structural reforms at Harvard University conference
https://arab.news/nvs5h
Pakistan finmin vows to push ahead with structural reforms at Harvard University conference
- Muhammad Aurangzeb attends Pakistan Conference 2025 at Harvard University, says state media
- Flags growth opportunities in Pakistan’s mineral resources, IT sector and green energy initiatives
Imran Khan’s party calls for ‘shutter-down’ strike on second anniversary of Pakistan elections
- Khan’s PTI party claims 2024 general elections’ results were rigged in their opponents’ favor
- Pakistan’s government denies the allegations, says polls were conducted in transparent manner
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called on the masses to observe a countrywide “shutter-down” strike in protest against alleged rigging today, Sunday, on the second anniversary of the Feb. 8, 2024, general elections.
Millions of people took to polling booths across the country on Feb. 8, 2024, to vote for their national and provincial candidates. However, the polling was marred by a nationwide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government at the time and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) both rejected the allegations.
Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government insists the polling was conducted transparently and that Khan’s party was not denied a fair chance.
“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP) are holding a nationwide shutter-down strike today,” Haleem Adil Sheikh, president of the PTI’s chapter in Sindh, told Arab News.
“We had appealed to the people to keep their businesses closed today because on this day, the people of Pakistan were deprived of their right to send their true representatives to parliament.”
Sheikh said the party was also mourning the victims of a deadly suicide blast in Islamabad on Friday which killed over 30 people.
TTAP chief and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, appealed to police in Sindh and Punjab not to disturb people who were participating in the strike.
“The people of Pakistan must express their anger by closing their shops,” Achakzai said on Saturday while speaking to reporters.
Khan was ousted from power in April 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful top generals. The army denies it interferes in politics.
He has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power.
In January 2025, an accountability court convicted Khan and his wife in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case, sentencing him to 14 years and her to seven years after finding that the trust was used to acquire land and funds in exchange for alleged favors. The couple denies any wrongdoing.
