The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurengzeb, said Tuesday that for the first time, the sugar sent to Afghanistan was not introduced from smuggling but exported with the help of all the police authorities deployed at the border.
By providing updates on the country’s economic progress, the minister said that the entry of remittances for February 2025 had reached the impressive $ 3.1 billion.
“We estimate a high remittance entrance of all time of $ 36 billion at the end of the fiscal year,” he said when heading to a press conference along with Federal Minister Attaullah Tarar.
While expressing gratitude to the Pakistani diaspora, Aurengzeb recognized its invaluable contribution to the nation’s economy.
“On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Government and the Cabinet, we extend our sincere thanks to all our Pakistani brothers and sisters who work abroad and send remittances back home,” he said.
The Minister of Finance also shared the results of several independent surveys conducted in the last quarter, including those of Gallup, ICC, ways abroad, Ipsos, PricewaterhouseCoopers and a recent one from the State Bank of Pakistan, all of which showed a remarkable increase in business and consumers confidence.
“This trust is reflected in greater commercial activity, and it is promising to see that these positive trends root in several sectors,” he said.
Despite the daily fluctuations in the index of the stock market, Aurengzeb expressed optimism about the General Directorate of the Market.
In particular, he pointed out that 52,000 new investors had entered the market in recent months, indicating a growing interest in the financial sector of Pakistan.
In addition, the Minister of Finance highlighted an important milestone in capital markets, with seven initial public offers (OPI) taking place in the Stock Exchange in the last year.
“This is the largest number of OPI in recent years, significantly exceeding the average of four opi annually during the last decade,” said finance minister.
“These are very encouraging signs of progress, both in terms of economic recovery and in promoting a more vibrant and friendly market environment with investors,” he said, adding that such developments suggested long -term improvements to arrive.
While commenting on the current reforms in the sugar industry, he said that as the 2024-2025 sugar crushing season began, the Federal Income Board (FBR) had implemented a new improved production monitoring system for sugar factories.
“This system includes five supervision mechanisms, such as track and trace seals, automated counters and video recording to increase transparency,” said finance minister.
In addition to these technological measures, he mentioned that FBR staff had been deployed in Mills throughout the country to guarantee responsibility and reduce bad practices.
The presence of officers of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Intelligence Office, together with other law enforcement agencies, further strengthened the application of the system.
“The result is that sugar is now being sold to genuine distributors, and improvement and corruption within the supply chain are being significantly minimized,” said FM Aurengzeb.
The Minister of Finance also highlighted the positive impact of these reforms on government revenues, noting that the Sent Sugar Tax in the first two months of 2025 had increased considerably compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching RS24BN, compared to RS15BN the previous year.
This 54 percent increase is a clear indication of the success of improved government monitoring systems, he continued.
Preparing the implementation and effectiveness of the production monitoring system, he said that, for the first time, this year, sugar was not smuggled, but exported to Afghanistan.
“This is a very beneficial result. We need every dollar to balance our checking account, ”he said, qualifying development as a very positive result.
During this sugar season, the minister reported that the country would have 5.7 million tons of sugar in addition to the available actions of the previous season.
He expressed confidence that this would be enough to meet the needs of the country through better management.
