{"id":127710,"date":"2026-06-16T20:17:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=127710"},"modified":"2026-06-16T20:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:17:19","slug":"aurangzeb-sees-budget-upside-from-us-iran-deal-but-says-way-too-premature-to-revise-projections-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says &#8216;way too premature&#8217; to revise projections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- Pakistan could improve economic projections for 2027 after the end of the Iran war, but it is still too early to revise the budget, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told\u00a0<em>Reuters<\/em>, hours after the US and Iran\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2008238\/middle-east-peace-hinges-on-hormuz-lebanon-after-deal-signed\">signed a deal\u00a0<\/a>to end the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Damaged energy infrastructure meant supply chains would take time to return to normal, after the conflict pushed inflation back into double digits, Aurangzeb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were looking at how we manage the second, third-order impact in case this conflict continues,\u201d he said. \u201cThe energy infrastructure has been hit. And therefore, it will take time before we return to normalcy in terms of supply chains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added, \u201cI do see upsides in what we have projected for next year,\u201d but cautioned it would be \u201cway too premature\u201d to revise the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The budget for the upcoming financial year,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2007490\">presented in Parliament<\/a>&nbsp;on Friday, targets growth of 4 per cent and inflation of 8.2pc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It raised&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2007456\">defence spending<\/a>&nbsp;by 18pc to Rs3 trillion, while relying on higher tax revenue to keep a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2008265\/aurangzeb-sees-budget-upside-from-us-iran-deal-but-says-way-too-premature-to-revise-projections#commercial-borrowing-to-change-creditor-profile\"><\/a>Commercial borrowing to change creditor profile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Islamabad may use commercial borrowing in fiscal year 2027 to change its creditor profile without increasing overall external debt, Aurangzeb added in comments on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIdeally, what we want to do is to see if we can replace some of the bilateral through commercial,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do not intend to increase the size of our external debt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1994616\">repaid&nbsp;<\/a>$3.4 billion in bilateral deposits from the United Arab Emirates last month but has also tapped the emirates\u2019 commercial banks for financing, reflecting the creditor-profile shift Aurangzeb wants to formalise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It plans further Panda Bond, Eurobond, US dollar and first rupee-linked, dollar-settled issues, though the sizes have yet to be decided, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FY27 budget envisages $2.82bn in commercial and eurobond financing, while Pakistan has approval for $1bn equivalent in Panda bonds after a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2000249\">&nbsp;$250 million debut<\/a>&nbsp;that was 95pc backed by the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interest has surged in Pakistan\u2019s burgeoning defence industry after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1910509\">last year\u2019s conflict with India<\/a>, but Aurangzeb said it was too early to project any defence-export upside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government\u2019s immediate focus is on allocations, given two \u201cactive\u201d borders, he added, as the country is flanked by Afghanistan and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan has also moved to formalise the digital asset sector this year, for example by signing pacts with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1960712\">Binance&nbsp;<\/a>and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1966922\">World Liberty Financial<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aurangzeb said Pakistan would regulate crypto, tokenisation and digital-asset exchanges before taxing the sector, saying revenue gains would follow once it was formalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes, at some point we have to bring it into the taxation timeframe,\u201d he added. \u201cBut this was not the time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Pakistan could improve economic projections for 2027 after the end of the Iran war, but it is still too early to revise the budget, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told\u00a0Reuters, hours after the US and Iran\u00a0signed a deal\u00a0to end the Middle East conflict. Damaged energy infrastructure meant supply chains would take time to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says &#039;way too premature&#039; to revise projections - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says &#039;way too premature&#039; to revise projections - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- Pakistan could improve economic projections for 2027 after the end of the Iran war, but it is still too early to revise the budget, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told\u00a0Reuters, hours after the US and Iran\u00a0signed a deal\u00a0to end the Middle East conflict. Damaged energy infrastructure meant supply chains would take time to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T15:17:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T15:17:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/\",\"name\":\"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says 'way too premature' to revise projections - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-16T15:17:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T15:17:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says &#8216;way too premature&#8217; to revise projections\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says 'way too premature' to revise projections - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says 'way too premature' to revise projections - Nation","og_description":"Web desk(National Times)- Pakistan could improve economic projections for 2027 after the end of the Iran war, but it is still too early to revise the budget, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told\u00a0Reuters, hours after the US and Iran\u00a0signed a deal\u00a0to end the Middle East conflict. Damaged energy infrastructure meant supply chains would take time to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/","og_site_name":"Nation","article_published_time":"2026-06-16T15:17:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-16T15:17:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":670,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"humza Jahangir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"humza Jahangir","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/","name":"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says 'way too premature' to revise projections - Nation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png","datePublished":"2026-06-16T15:17:18+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T15:17:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-18-5.png","width":670,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127710\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Aurangzeb sees budget upside from US-Iran deal, but says &#8216;way too premature&#8217; to revise projections"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/","name":"Nation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16","name":"humza Jahangir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"humza Jahangir"},"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127712,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127710\/revisions\/127712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}