For first time, sugar exported to Afghanistan via official channels, not smuggling: minister

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that Pakistan has exported Chinese to Afghanistan through official channels for the first time, which credits the law enforcement agencies to ensure a regulated trade on the border.

Speaking at a press conference with Federal Information Minister Attaula Tarar, the Finance Minister said, “We need every dollar that comes to balance our current account.”

In detail on the implementation and effectiveness of the strict production monitoring system, the country’s top economic manager called the development positive.

Aurangzeb said, “During this Chinese season, the country will have 5.7 million tonnes of sugar in addition to the stock available last season.”

He expressed confidence that this would be sufficient to meet the needs of the country through better management.

The Finance Minister said, “At the top of these technical measures, FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) personnel have been deployed in sugar mills across the country to ensure accountability and reduce misconduct.”

He said that the presence of officers of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), along with other law enforcement agencies, further strengthened the enforcement of the system.

“The result is that Chinese is now being sold to real distributors, and profiteering and corruption within the supply chain is minimized,” Aurangzeb said.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the report stated that in the meantime, to stabilize and bring down the prices of sugar, the federal government has decided to import raw sugar (sugar).

Import of raw sugar, according to a press release issued by the government, will help reduce the prices of sugar and also increase future sugar production, as it can be refined and converted into sugar locally.

As a development, there has been a significant increase in the prices of sugar in the country in recent months, which has reached the nationwide average last month.

Commenting on the ongoing reforms in the sugar industry, he said that as 2024–2025 sugarcane crushed weather, FBR implemented a new, increased production monitoring system for sugar mills.

“This system includes five oversight mechanisms, such as track-end-trace stamps, automatic counters and video recording to increase transparency,” he said.

Since the week ended on November 28, 2024, sugar prices have increased by Rs 18.58 per kg, depicting an increase of 14.3%. A year ago, in February 2024, the average price was around Rs .144.47 per kg, with about Rs. There was an annual increase of Rs 6 per kg.

Continuous price growth matches the government’s decision to approve large -scale sugar exports.

Between June and October 2024, officials allowed exports of 750,000 metric tonnes in October, including a final approval of 500,000 metric tonnes.

The Finance Minister also highlighted the positive impact of these reforms on government revenue, given that in the first two months of 2025, the sales tax on Chinese increased rapidly than the same period in the previous year, which increased from Rs 15 billion to Rs 25 billion in the previous year to Rs 25 billion.

“This 54% increase is a clear indication of the success of the government’s increased monitoring systems,” he said.

Thanking Pakistani migrants for his contribution to the country’s economy, the minister said the remittance flow for February 2025 became impressive at $ 3.1 billion. He said, “We estimate the high remittance flow of all time of $ 36 billion by the end of this financial year,” he said.

The Finance Minister also shared the results of several independent surveys conducted in the previous quarter, including Gallup, ICC, Overseas Campa, Ipsos, PricewaterhouseCupers and recently a one by State Bank of Pakistan, all of which showed attention in business and consumer trust.

“This confidence is reflected in increased business activity, and is promising to see these positive trends in various fields,” he said.

Despite the daily ups and downs in the stock market index, Aurangzeb expressed optimism about the overall direction of the market.

In particular, he reported that 52,000 new investors entered the market in recent months, indicating growing interest in Pakistan’s financial sector.

In addition, the Finance Minister highlighted a major milestone in the capital markets, with seven initial public offerings (IPOs) in the stock exchange in the last year.

The Finance Minister said, “This is the highest number of IPOs in recent years, which is much higher than the average of four IPOs annually in the last decade.”

He said, “These are very enthusiastic signs of progress to promote more vibrant, investor -friendly market environment,” he said, “he said, such development suggested long -term reforms.