Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb has appreciated Asian Development Bank partnership with Pakistan to support its development agenda, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Talking to President of the Asian Development Bank Masatsugu Asakawa in Washington, Aurangzeb expressed the hope for early finalization of ADB’s Country Partnership Framework. He also welcomed the launch of the new ADB office in Islamabad.
Muhammad Aurangzeb commended the Bank for completing the Capital Adequacy Framework and for exempting Pakistan from surcharges beyond exposure limits for the next three years. He also appreciated ADB’s support for a Policy-Based Loan of USD 500 million for the Climate & Disaster Resilience Enhancement Program, scheduled for consideration by ADB’s Board on 29th of this month. During the meeting, both sides agreed on the importance of domestic revenue mobilization, regional cooperation, and the timely completion of ADB’s new office in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has thanked the Group CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank for timely support in bridging the financing gap and appreciated its plans to expand operations in Pakistan. He said this while talking to Group CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank Dr. Adnan Chilwan in Washington. The Minister informed that Pakistan’s credit rating had recently been upgraded by Fitch and Moody’s. He indicated the government’s intention to tap into International Capital Markets (ICM) through an inaugural Panda Bond to diversify the financing base. During the meeting, various lending options offered by Dubai Islamic Bank to the Government of Pakistan were discussed. The two sides expressed their intent to collaborate further.
Earlier, Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb has appreciated Moody’s recent upgrade of Pakistan’s credit rating to Caa2. He was talking to representatives of Moody’s credit rating agency, who met the Minister in Washington. The Minister informed that senior officers of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank regularly engage with rating agencies. The meeting included a detailed briefing on debt sustainability, monetary policy, susceptibility to external vulnerabilities, FX reserves, fiscal discipline, revenue outlook, governance strength, and financial markets resilience.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Finance met with the Regional President of Visa, Andrew Toure and appreciated Visa's efforts to modernize Pakistan's payments system, especially to support domestic payment institutions like 1Link. The Finance Minister appreciated the role of visa in supporting financial inclusion and entrepreneurs. The Finance Minister expressed happiness over the launch of "Financial Inclusion Card" in collaboration with Meezan Bank of Visa. The Finance Minister agreed that consumers should have more options to choose and a fair environment should be available in the processing of domestic transactions.
Earlier, Aurangzeb meeting with China's Deputy Finance Minister, Liao Min. During the meeting, the Finance Minister reiterated his determination to further enhance the bilateral friendship and partnership between Pakistan and China. The Finance Minister thanked the Government of China for China's unwavering support in Pakistan's socio-economic development and obtaining the IMF's Extended Fund Facility.
He said Pakistan is determined to learn from the experience of Chinese economic reforms. The Finance Minister welcomed BYD's decision to introduce electric vehicles in Pakistan. The government is keen to issue the first panda bond in the Chinese market. The finance minister requested the Chinese government to increase the limit of the currency swap agreement to 40 billion Chinese yuan. Both sides emphasized the need for online settlement of payments and integration of payment systems of the two countries.
Reporter: Waqas Azeem