ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Wednesday acknowledged that some multinational companies (MNCs) had left Pakistan due to “high taxes and energy costs” but urged them to revise business models in line with a changing global economy.

Addressing the Pakis­tan Policy Dialogue hosted by the Policy Research & Advisory Council (PRAC) in Islamabad, he said: “There are firms that are leaving Pakistan, which is true, and we must ack­nowledge if the taxation is high, energy cost is high or financing cost — those have been real issues.”

However, he added: “It takes two to tango... if you are wedged into your business models from the last 50 years, it is not going to work in the modern world.”

Over the past few years, multiple MNCs have shut down their operations in Pakistan, including Pro­cter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, Shell, Microsoft, Uber and Yamaha.

Citing Nestle and Uni­lever as examples of MNCs successfully operating in Pakistan, Mr Aurangzeb said, “If Nestle and Unilever can do local sourcing, which keeps their margins high, they are now able to export, which is why they continue operating here.”

He also claimed that “20 new foreign investors” had entered Pakistan in the past 18 months.

On the government’s privatisation drive, the minister said 24 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had been handed over to the Privatisation Commission, arguing that losses from SOEs created a “huge gap” in public finances.

He said the government had shut down the Utility Stores Corporation and the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) primarily because of the subsidy burden. “More importantly, it was the corruption built into those subsidies that was the real cost to the exchequer,” he added.

Referring to digitisation efforts, Mr Aurangzeb said all government payments would be routed through digital channels by June.

On tariff reforms, he said regulatory duty (RD), customs duty (CD) and additional customs duty (ACD) would be phased out over five years to reduce input costs and support an export-led growth strategy.

He said such reforms were being pursued for the first time and could mark Pakistan’s “East Asia moment”.

He said prolonged protection for industry had reduced competition. “If we are to take this forward and move towards export orientation, we have to start from somewhere,” he added.

Mr Aurangzeb des­cribed debt servicing as the country’s “single largest expense item” and said the government planned to modernise the debt management office with improved investor relations and operational capacity.

“We saved roughly Rs850 billion last year in terms of debt servicing,” he said, expressing hope of achieving similar savings this year. He also said the government planned to issue Panda bonds “in the next couple of weeks if all goes well”.

The minister reiterated the government’s intent to bring crypto-related activity into a regulated framework, citing “billions of dollars” in trading volumes.

In October 2025, Procter & Gamble said it would wind down manufacturing and commercial activities in Pakistan and rely on third-party distributors to serve customers.

Yamaha Motor Pak­istan Ltd announced in September last year that it was discontinuing motorcycle assembly operations as part of a change in business strategy.

Careem also suspended ride-hailing operations in Pakistan after nearly a decade.

Analysts say such exits and scale-backs can reflect a range of factors, including corporate restructuring, increased competition and the operating environment.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2026