Muhammad Aurangzeb praises support for Pakistan when meeting with the head of the IDB.

In Washington, Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, president of the Islamic Development Bank, met with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.

He saw the Bank as a trustworthy ally in Pakistan’s development and valued its funding in a number of areas, such as energy, transportation, health, and education.

Muhammad Aurangzeb praised Bank’s and other Arab Coordination Group members’ funding in the Mohmand Dam, citing it as an example of how to jointly finance comparable or bigger projects in the future.

The finance minister met with Mashreq Bank’s leadership as well.

He praised the Bank’s historic relationship with Pakistan and emphasized the economy’s performance in the previous 12 months.

The Bank’s expansion of activities in Pakistan and the impending opening of a new office pleased Aurangzeb.

In the meantime, JP Morgan Bank personnel met with Muhammad Aurangzeb in Washington.

He gave a summary of the improvements in Pakistan’s economic outlook and underlined the value of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility in implementing structural reforms and lending stability to the macroeconomy.

The finance minister emphasized important tax, privatization, and state-owned enterprise reform alterations.

Additionally, by issuing its first Panda Bond, he demonstrated Pakistan’s determination to access global capital markets.

Last Wednesday, Muhammad Aurangzeb, the finance minister, made a suggestion that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would further lower interest rates in its November monetary policy.

“For the third consecutive meeting, SBP has lowered its benchmark interest rate by 450 basis points, from a record 22% to 17.5%.” Muhammad Aurangzeb told Bloomberg in Washington, outside the IMF meeting, that the central bank may lower the policy rate at its next meeting on November 4.