Govt not financing purchase of new PIA aircraft, says finance adviser
Govt's involvement limited to facilitating access to international financing, tech and suppliers: Khurram Schehzad
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb held discussions with the Chair of the US Export-Import (Exim) Bank, John Jovanovich, during a meeting held at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The agenda for the meeting included the Reko Diq mining project and potential financing opportunities for procuring aircraft for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
According to Khurram Schehzad, adviser to the Finance Minister, the government was not planning to purchase any aircraft for PIA nor had it announced any sovereign guarantees for such loans. Schehzad clarified that the government's role was to open doors, facilitate access to international financing, technology, and suppliers, and promote investment and commercial opportunities.
The discussions between Aurangzeb and Jovanovich covered potential financing for aviation, refinery upgrades, and Reko Diq, as part of a broader Pakistan-US economic engagement. Schehzad emphasized that the government was deliberately reducing its role in commercial activities and pursuing privatization, which did not mean abandoning private sector-led growth.
He stressed that claims of a "public loan, hidden subsidy, state backstop," or taxpayers assuming PIA's commercial risk were not accurate, as no such arrangement had been announced.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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