Aurangzeb outlines agricultural finance and climate resilience reforms to boost private sector growth and exports
In Washington, on the sidelines of the IMF’s World Bank Annual Meetings, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb addressed a high-level World Bank panel titled “AgriConnect: Farms, Business and Finance for Jobs,” highlighting Pakistan’s drive to modernize its agricultural sector while addressing climate risks.
Aurangzeb began by underlining the central role of agriculture in Pakistan’s economy, contributing almost a quarter of GDP and supporting millions of smallholder farmers who own less than five hectares. He emphasized that policy would move from direct control to facilitation, allowing the private sector to drive growth in areas where it can be most effective.
He detailed pilot programs currently underway, which supply seeds and fertilizers, offer agronomic services and employ satellite crop monitoring to help farmers increase yields while reducing dependence on middlemen.
To scale up these efforts, the minister called on the financial sector to step in, offering first-loss guarantees, subsidized loans and collateral-free credit for small farmers and tenants.
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On climate resilience, Aurangzeb emphasized the urgency of adapting to extreme climate events, such as the recent floods that severely affected the rice harvest. He noted that one-third of Pakistan’s ten-year National Partnership Framework with the World Bank is dedicated to climate action and decarbonization. Financial resources exist, he said, but deployment must be accelerated to meet changing challenges.
By investing in capacity building, the government has sent around 1,000 Pakistani students to China for advanced training in agricultural research, mechanization and modern farming methods. In responses to queries, Aurangzeb reaffirmed commitment to deregulation and incentivizing private investment in infrastructure such as cold chains, storage and value-added processing.
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He also highlighted the export potential of key crops, projecting rice exports of around $3.5 billion in the current year. In his concluding remarks, the minister expanded the definition of agriculture’s impact, stating that when the entire value chain is included, the sector contributes almost 40 percent of GDP.
Earlier in Washington, Aurangzeb also attended the G-24 Ministers’ meeting, where he highlighted Pakistan’s macroeconomic stability, giving credit to structural reforms in taxes, energy and privatization, while thanking the IMF and World Bank for supporting tariff reforms and cross-border trade initiatives.
