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KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Friday held a series of meetings with officials of the World Bank, Fitch Ratings and others in Washington, aimed at advancing the country’s economic agenda and highlighting its commitment to reforms under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.

Aurangzeb met President of the World Bank Ajay Banga on the sidelines of the IMF–World Bank annual meetings and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to deepening its partnership with the Bank, according to the Pakistani finance ministry.

He briefed the World Bank president on the government’s response to recent floods, which killed over 1,000, affected another 4 million and caused an estimated $1.3 billion losses.

“The Minister endorsed the proposal of leveraging technology platforms and cooperatives to effectively reach small farmers and enhance agricultural resilience,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

“Aurangzeb thanked the World Bank for its technical assistance in developing Pakistan’s Tariff Policy and informed Mr. Banga about the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed with provinces for the implementation of the Country Partnership Framework (CPF).”

He requested additional support under the International Development Association (IDA) windows in light of reduced allocations and discussed the importance of adopting a holistic approach toward reforming Pakistan’s gas and power sectors to ensure long-term sustainability and efficiency.

The finance minister earlier met officials of Fitch Ratings agency in Washington DC and briefed them on his government’s commitment to structural reforms. He thanked the agency for upgrading Pakistan’s credit rating to B- with a stable outlook and expressed satisfaction that all three major international rating agencies were now aligned in their assessments.

“He briefed the Fitch team on the recently announced Staff Level Agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and highlighted Pakistan’s progress on key structural reforms in taxation, energy, privatization, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs),” his ministry said.

“The Minister underscored the government’s resolve to expedite the privatization process to enhance efficiency and fiscal sustainability.”

Islamabad has described the agreement with the IMF for the release of a $1.2 billion loan tranche as a strong external validation of Pakistan’s economic reform agenda.

Aurangzeb apprised Fitch officials of the government’s ongoing efforts to issue Panda Bonds in the Chinese market and referred to successful trade and tariff negotiations with the US administration, which saw the lowering of tariffs on Pakistan from 29 percent to 19 percent.

“The meeting concluded with an interactive exchange, during which the Minister responded to queries from the Fitch team and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to maintaining macroeconomic stability and sustaining reform momentum,” the finance ministry added.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank governor said on Friday improved foreign exchange buffers and a more stable market environment had enabled the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to purchase $20 billion from the interbank market over the past three years to rebuild reserves and strengthen its capacity to absorb external shocks.

Governor Jameel Ahmad told senior executives from global financial and investment institutions on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington the SBP’s strategy to reform exchange companies and promote remittances through formal channels had stabilized the market, allowing Pakistan to increase its foreign reserves nearly five-fold since February 2023.

“SBP has improved the stability and transparency of the FX market through structural reforms in exchange companies and the promotion of remittances through formal channels,” Ahmad said, according to an official statement. “These efforts have brought stability in the FX market, allowing SBP to strategically purchase $20 billion during the last three years from the interbank market to build its FX reserves.”

He added that the central bank now aims to raise foreign exchange reserves to $17.5 billion by June 2026, emphasizing that the stronger position reflects SBP’s focus on building buffers “to withstand external shocks.”

Ahmad said headline inflation had declined sharply to 5.6 percent in September 2025, down from over 25 percent two years earlier, while core inflation had fallen below 8 percent. Despite flood-related disruptions, he projected inflation would stabilize within the 5-7 percent range in the medium term.

Pakistan’s economy grew by 3 percent in FY25, the SBP governor said, and growth in FY26 was expected to remain between 3.25 and 4.25 percent.

He added that policy consistency and fiscal discipline had created space for structural reforms, enabling Pakistan to pursue “sustainable growth and socioeconomic uplift” with support from multilateral partners such as the IMF and World Bank.