Pakistan targets more than $1 billion from privatisation this fiscal year

Pakistan expects five or six planned privatisation transactions to raise more than $1 billion this fiscal year, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told Reuters on October 12.

Speaking at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Aurangzeb said roughly a dozen entities were in the pipeline. The programme includes state-owned electricity distribution companies and outsourcing airport operations. He said the government wanted the private sector to lead economic activity.

Aurangzeb also forecast economic growth above 4% despite elevated oil prices. He said Pakistan had secured enough fuel to avoid shortages and that important sectors, including agriculture, were holding up. He cautioned that authorities were closely monitoring inflation as higher commodity prices fed through to the economy.

Pakistan remains supported by a $7 billion, 37-month IMF Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2024. A staff-level agreement reached last week could unlock about $1.21 billion under that programme and a separate climate facility.

The minister said discussions with the United States on a proposed $10 billion exchange stabilisation facility were continuing. He gave no timetable for an agreement and said Pakistan’s access to markets did not depend on securing the facility.