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Pakistani finmin to attend international economic conference in China today in push for investment

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb speaks during an interview at his office in Islamabad, Pakistan on July 19, 2024. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 25 March 2025
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Pakistani finmin to attend international economic conference in China today in push for investment

  • Boao Forum for Asia says it is an international organization in China which aims to promote economic integration in Asia
  • Muhammad Aurangzeb to meet Chinese officials, delegates from other countries and officials of investment banks, says state media
Updated 25 March 2025
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will attend the four-day Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in China today, Tuesday, state-run media reported, where he is expected to participate in high-level discussions and sessions to talk about Pakistan’s economic landscape. 

Headquartered in China, the BFA is an international organization jointly initiated by 29 member states which holds its annual conference in Boao, Hainan. The founding purpose of the BFA was to promote economic integration in Asia.

The theme of this year’s conference, which will be held from Mar. 25-28, is “Asia in the Changing World: Towards a Shared Future.” The BFA says the conference is aimed at upholding multilateralism, fostering openness and development, and jointly tackling global challenges while remaining focused on Asia. 

“He [Aurangzeb] will elucidate Pakistan’s economic outlook during the high-level discussions at the forum,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said. “On the sidelines of the forum, the finance minister will meet delegates from participating countries, officials of commercial and investment banks and senior Chinese officials.”

It added that the Pakistani finmin is also expected to meet representatives of selected international and Chinese media representatives.

The development takes place as Pakistan desperately tries to wiggle out of a macroeconomic crisis that has drained its foreign exchange reserves, weakened its national currency and increased its existing liabilities. 

Pakistan came to the brink of a sovereign default in 2023 before it secured a last-gasp deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that year. Islamabad also secured a $7 billion economic bailout package from the international lender in 2024 in exchange for committing to undertake long-term financial reforms in its priority sectors. 

Islamabad has reached out to regional allies such as China, Central Asian countries and Middle Eastern nations in recent months to attract international trade and enhance investment to escape its economic crisis. 

China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan that has pledged over $65 billion in investment in road, infrastructure and development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of the Belt and Road Initiative that is a massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe.

Topics: Muhammad Aurangzeb CPEC Economic crisis

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Pakistani charities report modest recovery in Ramadan despite easing inflation

Updated 7 min 40 sec ago
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Pakistani charities report modest recovery in Ramadan despite easing inflation

  • Alamgir Welfare Trust expects up to 10 percent increase in donations as it aims to expand services
  • Pakistan’s largest charity Edhi Foundation says donations have only marginally improved
Updated 7 min 40 sec ago
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: Two main charities in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi have reported a modest recovery in the collection of donations this Ramadan despite easing inflation, top officials at the organizations said this week, as the annual inflation rate slowed to 1.5 percent in February, the lowest in nearly a decade. 

Major welfare organizations such as the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest charity known for its extensive network of ambulances and shelters, and the Alamgir Welfare Trust (AWT), another main social welfare body, said they expected either stable or slightly higher contributions this year compared to the last two years when high inflation rates had curtailed donations. 

Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 38 percent in May 2023 before gradually easing, with the government expecting it to remain within 1–3 percent in the coming months.

Every year, Edhi and AWT collectively gather and spend as much as Rs4 billion ($14.4 million) on initiatives like sheltering orphans, burying unclaimed dead bodies and providing free food, health and education facilities to thousands of vulnerable families across Pakistan.

“This year we will hopefully see 10 percent extra donations toward our annual budget of Rs3 billion,” Chohdry Nisar Ahmed, the chairman of AWT, told Arab News.

Headquartered in the Bahadurabad neighborhood of Karachi, the organization operates on a daily budget of around Rs10 million ($36,000). 

Ahmed said inflation had adversely affected the charity’s work in recent years, though the situation was now beginning to improve.

“Earlier, the effect of inflation was significant. Now that impact has reduced a bit,” he said “But as the gold price has increased now, so people are bound to pay more Zakat. We did experience a little up and down in donations but not much.”

Zakat is a mandatory form of almsgiving in Islam, calculated as a percentage of one’s wealth, including gold holdings. This means the higher the price of gold, the greater the amount eligible individuals are required to pay.

The AWT chief said he wanted to expand his network of services by constructing a 14-story building in Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan. To start the construction work on acquired land, he said, AWT needed at least Rs1.5 billion ($5.4 million). The organization also wants to enroll at least 50,000 children in schools in addition to the 40,000 it is already educating.

The chairman of the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world’s largest volunteer ambulance service, also reported a modest hike in donations this year.

“Charity in the first twenty days of Ramadan is almost the same as compared to last year,” Faisal Edhi told Arab News. “The increase [this year] is very little, not much. We cannot call it a substantial increase.”

Edhi Foundation is preparing to expand its 2,000-vehicle ambulance fleet amid growing demand for emergency response services across Pakistan. It already runs a shelter home that houses 5,000 homeless people, including women and children.

“Our annual budget ranges from Rs3-4 billion that we cover from donations,” Edhi said, adding that a part of the donations came from the Pakistani community living in Britain and the United States, but most came from Pakistani donors belonging to the middle or working classes.

“Seeing the inflation, it seems like the [total] charity will be same as last year and our last year was not very promising either,” Edhi said. “The group that gives us charity, they belong to middle and lower-middle classes or the working class and the working class has been affected the most [by inflation] at the moment.”

Topics: charities Ramadan 2025 donations Inflation

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Court frees Pakistani journalist charged under controversial cybercrime law

Updated 10 min 41 sec ago
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Court frees Pakistani journalist charged under controversial cybercrime law

  • Waheed Murad, who works for Urdu News, was taken from home by masked men Wednesday morning, his family said
  • Criminalization of online disinformation has spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about new law
Updated 10 min 41 sec ago
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate had approved bail and freed Pakistani journalist Waheed Murad, charged earlier this week under a controversial cybercrime law, his lawyer said on Friday

Murad, who works with the international digital media outlet Urdu News, was taken from his home by masked men early Wednesday morning, according to his family, provoking an outcry from the local media community and international journalists’ rights bodies. 

A new cybercrime law, PECA, under which Murad has been charged, carries a prison term of up to three years and unleashed journalist protests when it was approved in January.

“Judicial Magistrate has approved the bail of journalist Waheed Murad and ordered his release,” Murad’s lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir told Arab News.

The journalist was subsequently freed, with pictures widely shared on social media showing him leaving the lock-up.

The charge sheet against Murad by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) accuses him of sharing “misleading” information on social media, causing “hatred” against government functionaries.

“Accused Muhammad Waheed s/o Bara Khan is found sharing highly intimidating content/post on social media/Facebook and X Corp. on Wednesday, 12-03-2025 at 07:33 p.m. and 10:21 pm, in which the alleged profile has knowingly disseminated/propagated, fake, false, misleading and misinterpreted information leading to hatred against the government functionaries by stating therein that,” a copy of the complaint seen by Arab News said. 

The complaint said a case against the journalist has been registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).

Murad’s arrest came just days after the disappearance of the brothers of exiled journalist Ahmad Noorani following the publishing of a controversial report about Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir on Noorani’s website.

On March 20, the Federal Investigation Agency also arrested Karachi-based journalist Farhan Mallick, founder of the digital media platform Raftar, on allegations of airing “anti-state” content on his YouTube channel.

International rights organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have expressed increasing concern over the deteriorating climate for press freedom. Rights defenders say the pattern reflects a shrinking space for democratic discourse in Pakistan, where journalists critical of state policies or security agencies are frequently subjected to intimidation tactics.

The criminalization of online disinformation has in particular spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about the potentially wide reach of laws like PECA.

Pakistan is ranked 152 out of 180 countries in a press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

Islamabad has long been criticized by watchdogs for restricting Internet access, including temporary bans on YouTube and TikTok, while X has been officially blocked since February last year. 

Topics: waheed murad PECA law Pakistan Media journalism Federal Investigation Agency

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Pakistan stocks increase 4% month-on-month on IMF staff level deal — analysts

Updated 34 min 10 sec ago
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Pakistan stocks increase 4% month-on-month on IMF staff level deal — analysts

  • IMF this week reached deal for new $1.3 billion arrangement, first review of ongoing bailout program
  • Pakistan can unlock $1.3 billion under new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months
Updated 34 min 10 sec ago
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani stocks increased by 4% on a month-on-month basis on the back of a successful staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund, among other factors, top brokerage house Topline Securities said in a monthly market review on Friday.

On Tuesday, IMF staff reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout program. Pending board approval, Pakistan can unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months. The IMF will also free $1 billion for the South Asian nation under its $7 billion bailout program, which would bring those disbursements to $2 billion.

The program, secured mid-year in 2024, has played a key role in stabilizing Pakistan’s economy and the government has said the country is on course for a long-term recovery.

“KSE 100 Index increased by 4% on MoM basis, this gain can be attributed to staff level agreement with IMF, circular debt resolution plan where news flow suggest that significant progress has been made and noise that government is working on plan to reduce the electricity prices,” Topline Securities said in its review. 

Plugging unresolved debt across the power sector is a top priority under the ongoing IMF bailout, which has helped Pakistan dig its way out of an economic crisis.

Pakistan’s government, the largest shareholder or owner of most power companies, faces a challenge in resolving debt due to fiscal constraints. To address this, Islamabad has raised energy prices, as recommended by the IMF, but still needs to settle the accumulated debt.

The government plans to reduce “circular debt” — public liabilities that build up in the power sector due to subsidies and unpaid bills — this year by eliminating government-guaranteed debt and moving to a revenue-based system.

This approach is expected to lower financing costs, enabling the government to pay off interest and service debt obligations, the power ministry said earlier this month. 

Other major developments during this month have been the inflation rate for February coming in at 1.5%, the lowest reading in nearly a decade. The monetary policy committee also kept the policy rate unchanged at 12%, while the remittance figure for the month of February 2025 clocked in at S$3.1 billion, up 39% YoY and 4% MoM.

Pakistan’s inflation is likely to remain steady in March, in the 1% to 1.5% range, the country’s finance ministry said in its monthly economic outlook, after slowing to its lowest level in almost a decade the previous month. 

Inflation in Pakistan has been declining for several months after it soared to around 40% in May 2023.

Pakistan says its $350 billion economy has stabilized under the $7 billion IMF bailout that had helped it stave off a default threat.

“While economic growth remains moderate, inflation has declined to its lowest level since 2015, financial conditions have improved, sovereign spreads have narrowed significantly, and external balances are stronger,” the IMF said about Pakistan. 

Islamabad had been awaiting the IMF agreement on the first review of the bailout and disbursement of $1 billion ahead of the country’s annual budget, usually presented in June.

The IMF statement also noted what it called elevated downside risks such as geopolitical shocks to commodity prices, tightening global financial conditions, or rising protectionism.

It said such risks could undermine Pakistan’s “hard-won macroeconomic stability.”

Topics: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Pakistan Stock Exchange Pakistan economy Pakistan IMF Talks

Pakistan army says 11 militants killed in four operations in northwest

Updated 31 min 16 sec ago
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Pakistan army says 11 militants killed in four operations in northwest

  • Pakistan is battling spike in attacks by indigenous chapter of Taliban movement, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
  • Islamabad says militants use safe havens in Afghanistan to carry out cross-border attacks, a charge Kabul denies
Updated 31 min 16 sec ago
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Eleven militants were killed in four operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistan army said on Thursday night, amid a surge in attacks across the country.

Pakistan is battling a spike in attacks by an indigenous chapter of the Taliban movement, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, on police and military in areas near the Afghan border. The military has been conducting near-daily operations against militants, especially in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces.

Islamabad says militants use safe havens in Afghanistan to carry out cross-border attacks, a charge Kabul denies.

“On 26-27 March 2025, eleven Khwarij [militants] were killed by the security forces in four separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province,” the army said in a statement.

Two intelligence-based operation was conducted in Mir Ali in North Waziristan District, with eight militants killed. Two more were killed in Miran Shah while one was killed in a fourth operation in Dera Ismail Khan District.

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities,” the army said. 

“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.”

Topics: Military operation KPK Counter Terrorism

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PM Sharif says Huawei’s program to train 300,000 Pakistanis will boost exports, generate jobs

Updated 28 March 2025
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PM Sharif says Huawei’s program to train 300,000 Pakistanis will boost exports, generate jobs

  • Pakistan, Huawei last year signed agreement to train 300,000 Pakistanis in information and communication technologies
  • Program, scheduled to conclude by the end of 2025, will see 60,000 Pakistanis receive high-tech training, says state media
Updated 28 March 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week said Chinese multinational technology company Huawei’s program to train 300,000 Pakistanis will generate employment in the country and boost its exports, state-run media reported. 

Pakistan and Huawei last year signed an agreement to train 300,000 Pakistani youths in information and communication technology (ICT) skills to match international standards. Huawei is providing training to Pakistani youth in artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, cloud computing and other advanced technologies under the initiative.

The Pakistani prime minister met a five-member delegation of the company, headed by its Chief Executive Officer Ethen Sun on Thursday, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 

“Shehbaz Sharif said the government seeks a solid and long-term partnership with Huawei,” it said. “He highlighted that Huawei’s ICT training program will not only boost IT exports but will also help create employment opportunities for youth.”

Sharif’s office said earlier this month that Huawei has trained over 20,000 Pakistanis under the program. He was briefed by the delegation that 240,000 youths will receive basic training while 60,000 will undergo high-tech training under the initiative.

“The training is expected to be completed by the end of this year,” Radio Pakistan said. 

The state media said Huawei has additionally, in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, introduced courses in AI, cloud computing, big data and cybersecurity in 15 Pakistani universities.

Pakistan views ICT as a driver of economic change and seeks to transform the sector into a cornerstone of its strategy for financial stability, courting foreign investment from countries like China and the Gulf states.

In its bid to generate more jobs countrywide, Sharif launched the Digital Youth Hub portal in Islamabad on Thursday. 

The initiative will connect young people to jobs, educational opportunities and enhance skills development in the country. 

Sharif’s government has repeatedly spoken of putting Pakistan on the track to economic recovery by increasing its exports. In its economic transformation plan issued this year, the government says it hopes to achieve $60 billion in exports in the next five years. 

Topics: Huawei Technologies Pakistan IT industry Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

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