KARACHI:

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Wednesday directed regulators and market institutions to accelerate reforms aimed at expanding Pakistan’s corporate bond market and strengthening the role of capital markets in financing economic growth.

Chairing a meeting of the Capital Market Development Council (CMDC), Aurangzeb reviewed progress on reforms focused on developing the corporate debt market and improving the functioning of the country’s capital markets.

According to an official statement, the minister said a strong and well-functioning capital market was essential for sustainable economic development because it enabled corporations to access long-term financing while offering diversified investment opportunities to institutional and retail investors. He stressed that Pakistan needed to gradually move toward a more balanced financial system in which capital markets complement the banking sector in meeting the financing needs of the economy.

Aurangzeb said the development of a vibrant corporate bond market could help mobilise long-term domestic savings and support private sector investment. He emphasised the need for practical and time-bound reforms and urged stakeholders to address bottlenecks across the capital market value chain, including issuance processes, regulatory procedures, market infrastructure and secondary market liquidity. The minister directed the SECP to strengthen outreach efforts so that corporates, financial institutions and market participants were fully aware of recent regulatory reforms aimed at facilitating corporate bond issuance.

These measures include simplified prospectus requirements, streamlined documentation procedures, reduced regulatory fees and digitisation of the issuance process to improve efficiency and transparency. Aurangzeb also asked relevant institutions to review international and regional experiences in capital market development and identify best practices that could be adapted to Pakistan’s context.