Aurangzeb foresees $10b reserves with IMF nod
国际货币基金组织（IMF）确认协议后，巴基斯坦财政部长Aurangzeb预计将有100亿美元的储备金
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb stated on Tuesday that Pakistan’s gross official foreign exchange reserves would increase to $10 billion in two months, as the International Monetary Fund is set to approve the $1.1 billion final loan tranche on Monday (4.29).
The minister also unveiled his strategy to avoid any future International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes but only after obtaining a new “large and longer” 24th programme. His strategy revolves around enhancing exports, foreign direct investment (FDI), and raising debt from global markets – the three pillars that every finance minister has been attempting to implement during the past 16 years with varying degrees of success.
The finance minister mentioned that an IMF mission would visit Pakistan by mid-May to negotiate the new deal.
Aurangzeb highlighted three areas for the future IMF programme, which included increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio and broadening the tax base, fixing the energy sector, and accelerating the privatisation programme.
巴基斯坦财政部长Muhammad Aurangzeb周二表示，巴基斯坦的官方外汇储备总额将在两个月内增至100亿美元，因为国际货币基金组织将于周一（4.29）批准11亿美元的最后一笔贷款。
这位部长还公布了他的策略，即在获得新的“规模更大、时间更长”的第24个国际货币基金组织(IMF)项目后，他将避免未来的任何国际货币基金组织(IMF)援助项目。他的战略围绕着加强出口、外国直接投资（FDI）和从全球市场举债--这是过去16年中每位财政部长都在尝试实施的三大支柱，但都取得了不同程度的成功。
财政部长提到，国际货币基金组织代表团将于5月中旬访问巴基斯坦，就新协议进行谈判。
Aurangzeb强调了IMF未来计划的三个领域，其中包括提高税收与国内生产总值的比率并扩大税基、整顿能源行业以及加快私有化计划。
SBP buys dollars to offset shortfall
巴基斯坦国家银行购买美元以弥补短缺
Pakistan received $9.7 billion in foreign loans, or a little over half of the annual estimate, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, as the government could not convince the international credit rating agencies to upgrade the country’s junk rating.
The Economic Affairs Division and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed that Pakistan secured only $9.7 billion in foreign loans during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. The data comprised $6.8 billion worth of lending reported by the economic affairs ministry and $2.9 billion reported by the central bank.
The reserves stood firm at $8 billion even after making a $1 billion Eurobond repayment in the current month as the central bank increased dollar purchases from the domestic market.
For the current fiscal year, the government had expected to receive over $18 billion from foreign creditors to meet its external financing needs. But it could not be able to float Eurobonds and obtain fresh foreign commercial loans, thanks to the poor credit ratings and high cost of borrowing.
由于政府无法说服国际信用评级机构提升巴基斯坦的垃圾评级，巴基斯坦在本财政年度的前九个月获得了97亿美元的外国贷款，略高于年度预期的一半。
经济事务司和巴基斯坦国家银行（SBP）的数据显示，本财年前九个月，巴基斯坦仅获得了97亿美元的外国贷款。这些数据包括经济事务部报告的68亿美元贷款和中央银行报告的29亿美元贷款。
即使在本月偿还了10亿美元的欧洲债券后，由于中央银行增加了从国内市场购买美元，外汇储备仍保持在80亿美元的水平。
在本财政年度，政府预计将从外国债权人那里获得超过180亿美元的资金，以满足其外部融资需求。但由于信用评级不佳和借贷成本高昂，政府无法发行欧洲债券和获得新的外国商业贷款。
UNDP report: Pakistan in moderate digital development category
联合国开发计划署报告：巴基斯坦处于中等数字发展水平
The UNDP report, “Pakistan National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2023-2024 “Doing Digital for Development: Access, Adopt, Anticipate, Accelerate” launched here on Tuesday stated that Pakistan has a value of 0.399 on the Digital Adoption Index, performing poorly than most countries in the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean but better than countries in Sub-Saharan Africa due to its poor human development outcomes – highlighting the country’s incapacity to fully benefit from the potential of digital transformation.
The report has projected Pakistani retail market’s online share of e-commerce at $10 by2027.
Pakistan’s first-ever Digital Development Index (DDI) measures digital development progress across Pakistan’s provinces and districts, placing the country in the ‘moderate’ digital development category with a cumulative DDI of 0.205.
DDI value of Punjab (0.213), Sindh (0.209), Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (0.209), and Gilgit-Baltistan (0.207) show moderate levels of digital development. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, with values of 0.196 and 0.135 respectively, lie in the low digital development category.
联合国开发计划署的报告《2023-2024年巴基斯坦国家人口发展报告（NHDR）—以数字化促进发展》：该报告指出，巴基斯坦的数字应用指数为0.399，低于中东、欧洲和中亚、拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的大多数国家，但好于撒哈拉以南的人口欠发展的非洲国家，这突显了巴基斯坦无法充分受益于数字化转型的潜力。
报告预计，到2027年，巴基斯坦零售市场的在线电子商务份额将达到10美元。
巴基斯坦首次发布的"数字发展指数"（DDI）衡量了巴基斯坦各省区的数字发展进度，将巴基斯坦列入"中等"数字发展类别，累计DDI为0.205。
旁遮普省（0.213）、信德省（0.209）、巴控克什米尔地区（0.209）和吉尔吉特-巴尔蒂斯坦（0.207）的DDI值显示出中等水平的数字发展。开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省和俾路支省的DDI分别为0.196和0.135，属于低水平。
$1bn investment plans proposed for ports uplift
和记港口公司(Hutchison Ports)拟投资10亿美元提升港口
A prospective investment blueprint delineating a proposed infusion of $1 billion into various plans for port development in Pakistan was unveiled on Tuesday by Hutchison Ports, one of the world’s leading ports network, already operating in the country.
The plan was unveiled by a delegation of the Hong Kong-based ports network during a meeting with Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh.
Hutchison Ports’ regional head Andy Tsoi presented a strategic vision for enhancing port facilities and fortifying connectivity in the region and informed the minister that an initial tranche of $200 million is to be designated for immediate deployment, with the remainder to be disbursed across phased implementations.
The delegation was of the opinion that at the core of the investment strategy lies the augmentation of logistics infrastructure, encompassing the establishment of state-of-the-art warehouses, storage facilities, and depots.
Furthermore, the plan entails the construction of modern road networks and the integration of technology to optimise operational efficiency and elevate transshipment handling capabilities to world-class standards.
周二，已在巴基斯坦运营的世界领先港口网络之一和记港口公司(Hutchison Ports)公布了一份前瞻性投资蓝图，计划向巴基斯坦港口发展的各项计划注资10亿美元。
总部设在香港的港口网络代表团在与海事部长Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh会晤时公布了该计划。
和记港口区域主管Andy Tsoi介绍了在该地区改善港口设施和加强连通性的战略愿景，并告知部长，首批2亿美元将指定用于立即部署，其余部分将分阶段实施。
代表团认为，投资战略的核心是扩大物流基础设施，包括建立最先进的仓库、储存设施和中转站。
此外，该计划还包括建设现代化的道路网络和整合技术，以优化运营效率并将转运处理能力提升到世界级标准。
