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Pakistan to develop fresh petroleum policy to materialise $12bn Saudi investment

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  • Policy will provide Pakistan way to attract multi-billion-dollar investments.
  • Pakistan, KSA discuss, review areas of mutual cooperation.
  • Two sides agree to hold follow-up meeting next week.

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to facilitate the potential investment of $10 to $12 billion from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan directed the relevant authorities to approve a fresh petroleum policy, The News reported. 

Earlier this week, Islamabad persuaded Riyadh to establish a $12 billion state-of-the-art deep conversion refinery along with a petrochemical complex in Pakistan. 

The petroleum policy will provide Pakistan with a way to attract multi-billion-dollar investments. On Wednesday, different ministries held consultations for finalising draft agreements, which are expected to be signed during the upcoming visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to Pakistan. 

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday held a virtual meeting on the First Joint Economic Sub Committee of the Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. 

Minister for Board of Investment (BOI) Chaudhry Salik Hussain, State Minister for Petroleum Dr Musadik Masood Malik, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa and other senior officers from ministries of Finance, BOI, Maritime, Aviation, IT and Telecommunication, Food Security & Research, Petroleum and Power Division attended the meeting.

Both sides discussed and reviewed areas of mutual cooperation and collaboration including energy, industry, mineral resources, commerce, finance, investment tourism, communication information and technology, agriculture, food security, transportation, logistics, maritime, and work to increase trade exchange and investment between the two countries.

“The two sides agreed to hold a follow-up meeting next week to ensure the maximum progress is made in bilateral cooperation in these sectors so that significant agreements are signed during the visit of HRH Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia next month,” the statement concluded.

Dar reiterated that both countries have an exceptional relationship based on social, political, religious and cultural fronts and the need of the hour was to strengthen mutual trade and investment. Both sides also exchanged views on various measures for achieving a greater level of cooperation and for further strengthening the relations.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud recalled the recent visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and mentioned that both sides showed tremendous political will for enhancing bilateral ties.

The Saudi prince highlighted the depth of relations between the two friendly countries in all fields. It was also shared that both countries enjoy long-standing strong mutual historic, religious and cultural ties.

Meanwhile, Dar offered his thanks to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its commitment and dedication towards the Pakistan government and highlighted the deep-rooted ties between both countries in various fields. 

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Robust activity lets PSX climb above 115,000 level again.

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On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) resumed its upward trend, crossing 115,000 points once more.

The PSX had strong action in the morning session, as the KSE-100 index increased by 1,000 points to 115,138.

The notoriously volatile PSX closed Thursday at 114,037 points, up 594 points.

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Meanwhile, in the interbank market this morning, the US dollar fell 7 paisas to Rs278.65 against the Pakistani rupee.

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SBP will announce monetary policy on January 27.

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The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will release its monetary policy on Monday.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP will convene on the first day of the following week to make decisions on monetary policy.

The Monetary Policy decision will be announced by Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad at a news conference on the same day after the MPC meeting, according to an official release.

In December, the central bank reduced policy rates by 200 basis points (bps) to 13 percent.

“In November 2024, headline inflation fell to 4.9 percent year on year, meeting the MPC’s estimates. This decrease was mostly caused by the ongoing decline in food inflation and the phasing out of the impact of the gas tariff increase in November 2023,” SBP stated in an official release.

“However, the Committee noted that core inflation, at 9.7 percent, is proving to be sticky, while consumer and business inflation expectations remain volatile.” To that end, the Committee restated its previous assessment that inflation may remain volatile in the short term before stabilizing within the target range.

“At the same time, growth prospects have slightly improved, as evidenced by a recent increase in high-frequency indicators of economic activity.” Overall, the Committee concluded that its approach of gradual policy rate decreases is keeping inflationary and external account pressures under control while promoting long-term economic growth.

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Finance Minister Meets With World Leaders at World Economic Forum in Davos

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During his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has met with officials of organisations and leaders of many nations.
Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Younas, met with Mohammad Aurangzeb.
On the fringes of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2025 Opening Banquet, there was an informal meeting.
Additionally, the Finance Minister met with Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Both leaders discussed economic cooperation and bilateral ties.
Muhammad Aurangzeb also had a meeting with Dp World’s Rizwan Soomro and Yuvraj Narayan.
They talked about how to strengthen Pakistan’s logistics and infrastructure systems to support trade.
“The Pakistani government is committed to advancing joint projects and values partnerships in both business-to-business and business-to-government cooperation,” the finance minister added.

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