$25 billion.. Saudi Arabia invest in Pakistan in the mining and information technology sectors

Saudi Arabia intends to invest $25 billion in Pakistan over the next five years in various sectors, after the economic recovery witnessed by Islamabad.

Pakistan's caretaker prime minister, Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, said on Monday that his government will revive the currently stalled privatization process.

The South Asian country has begun a difficult road to economic recovery under a caretaker government after successfully avoiding a sovereign debt default thanks to a $3 billion loan approved by the International Monetary Fund in July.

Saudi investments

Kakar told reporters from his official residence that Saudi investments will focus on mining, agriculture and information technology sectors, which is part of a drive to increase foreign direct investment in Pakistan.

Pakistan, a long-time ally of Saudi Arabia, is facing a balance of payments crisis and needs billions of dollars in foreign exchange to finance its trade deficit and repay its international debts in the current fiscal year.

Gold and copper mine in Pakistan

Kakar did not mention the projects in which Riyadh is looking to invest, but Barrick Gold said last month that it was open to including the Saudi wealth fund in its list of partners in the Rico Diq gold and copper mine in Pakistan.

Kakar said that the value of Pakistan's untapped mineral reserves amounts to about six trillion dollars. The interim government headed by Kakar is supposed to supervise the general elections scheduled for November, amid expectations that they may be postponed for several months.

Barrick Gold believes that the Rico Diq mine is one of the largest untapped copper and gold mines in the world, and it owns a 50 percent share of it, while the governments of Pakistan and the Baluchistan province own the remaining percentage.

Energy sector

Kakar added that the interim government will seek to complete two privatizations, possibly of state-run entities in the energy sector, within the next six months and will also look to privatize another state-owned company outside the energy sector.

State-owned enterprises in Pakistan have long been a source of concern, as the bleeding of financial resources has increased pressure on the financial sector.

Recently, Islamabad added PIA to the privatization list again.

The privatization process faces many obstacles in Pakistan, as the sale of state assets is a politically sensitive issue, which many elected governments have avoided.