Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Wednesday termed population and climate change as “existential issues” that Pakistan must address to realise its potential.

Pakistan is home to a vast population of over 251 million, according to the World Bank. The Bank states the annual population growth rate for 2024 at 1.5 per cent, with the government’s 2023 census showing that the population grew by 2.55pc from 207.7m in 2017 to 241.5m in 2023.

“I am very clear: we cannot realise the potential of this country unless we address two existential issues — population and climate change,” Aurangzeb said while addressing a gathering of the business community in Karachi.

“Only saying that we do not make emissions but have to adapt, so demonstrate it,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s oft-repeated argument that the country contributes less than 1pc to global carbon emissions but faces catastrophic climate change-induced events.

“We have funding. First utilise the funding we have,” the finance minister stressed as he responded to a reporter’s query.

He went on to note that population was “not only about the high-level” but also child stunting and learning poverty, which “is girls out of school”.

“These are all areas on which the federation and the provinces have to work together,” Aurangzeb said.

He said economic issues were “immediate” and would be solved in a few years, but climate change and population were “existential issues and are now urgent enough to address now. Now.”

Last month, lawmakers from across Pakistan called for declaring the rapid population growth a national emergency and integrating population welfare into all development and policy frameworks.

The Council of Islamic Ideology has endorsed birth spacing and recommended involving religious leaders more actively in disseminating messages on its permissibility.

Need for wheat, sugar to be deregulated

Replying to another question, Aurangzeb asserted that the government was “very clear” on the matter of deregulation of wheat and sugar.

“My view and that of the prime minister and the cabinet is very clear that the government should opt out of whatever matters it can,” he said. The minister noted that wheat had an element of “strategic reserve” as it was a staple food; otherwise, it should also be deregulated.

“Both these policies are coming,” he said. The government last month introduced the ‘Wheat Policy 2025–26: Transitioning to a Market-Based System’ that set a minimum support price to support flood-hit farmers.

“There was a situation due to the floods this time; otherwise, they (policymakers) did the right thing,” he said.

“Deregulation has to be end-to-end. It cannot happen that we deregulate a certain element in the value chain but maintain control over another. The government has to get out of the entire value chain, so that’s where we are headed,” Aurangzeb said.

During his media talk, the minister also noted, “We have definitely faced losses in rice [exports] this year because its fields in Punjab were damaged. But they are also hovering between $3-4 billion of agricultural exports.”