Friday, October 17 2025

Privatisation of PIA, airports: Saudi Finance Minister briefed
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has met with his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Al-Jadaan in Washington DC and briefed him on the privatization of the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and airports as Islamabad seeks “strategic investments,” the finance ministry said on Thursday. The meeting between Aurangzeb and the Saudi finance minister took place on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings, where he has held a number of engagements with finance officials and business leaders from various countries and institutions. The cash-strapped South Asian nation is looking to privatize the debt-ridden PIA to raise funds and reform loss-making, state-owned enterprises as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
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Monday, September 22 2025

BusCaro raises $2m to tackle tricky mobility sector
Venture capital is starting to trickle back into Pakistan. In the latest round, Mobility startup BusCaro raised $2 million last week, bringing its total funding to $3.5m. The round was led by UAE-based Daman Investments, with participation from US/Saudi Cartography Capital, New York’s Epic Angest, UK’s Wahed Ventures, the Aga Khan Development Network’s Accelerate Prosperity, and a mix of angel investors. BusCaro, which offers shared commute services, was born in late 2022 — a time that could not have been less propitious for mobility startups. The world was emerging from the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war had triggered a global crisis, Pakistan was reeling from floods, and the local mobility sector was collapsing. Airlift and Swvl had folded, and Uber had exited Pakistan. What was once the hottest space had suddenly become a no-go zone.
Related news categories: business economic-indicators misc transport