From remittances to results: Saudi Arabia’s new economic play in Pakistan
Publishing date: 15 February 2026
Published in: Arab News
After decades of financial lifelines, Saudi Arabia is now backing Pakistan’s technology, minerals and industrial sectors signaling a historic pivot from support to partnership.
For decades, Pakistan’s economic relationship with Saudi Arabia has been defined by stability rather than strategy. Millions of Pakistani workers in the Kingdom send home over $9 billion annually– nearly a quarter of the country’s total remittances — while grants, deposits, and deferred oil payments have repeatedly helped Islamabad navigate balance-of-payments crises.
Religious tourism further cements people-to-people ties, with millions traveling for Hajj and Umrah each year. Yet these inflows, while vital, have sustained consumption rather than transformed the economy. I believe this signals a pivotal moment: Saudi Arabia is moving beyond episodic support, and Pakistan must seize the opportunity to transform its productive economy.
If Pakistan fails to provide regulatory certainty and technical capacity, decades of opportunity could be lost.
– Mehreen Durrani
“As Assistant Minister of Investment in Saudi Arabia (MISA) H.E Ibrahim Al-Mubarak said in 2024, ‘The Saudi government and companies consider Pakistan a high-priority economic, business, and investment opportunity,’” signaling Saudi Arabia’s confidence in Pakistan’s potential beyond aid. This shift has been years in the making.
During Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit in 2019, memorandums of understanding worth approximately $20 billion were signed across energy, mining, infrastructure and industrial cooperation. While global shocks and domestic instability slowed execution, Saudi interest never waned. Instead, it has aligned more closely with Vision 2030, emphasizing diversification, industrial depth, and knowledge-based growth. Nowhere is this evolution more visible than in technology and minerals.
Pakistan’s IT and IT-enabled services sector generate over $3 billion annually, despite broader economic headwinds. Saudi Arabia has identified the sector as a strategic complement to its digital transformation agenda, facilitating licensing, compliance and market access for Pakistani firms.
Joint initiatives span artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, cybersecurity, and digital government solutions, including AI and innovation hubs to support research, skills development, and product co-creation. For context, Pakistan’s IT exports are now larger than those of neighboring Bangladesh, highlighting its potential as a regional digital hub.
This is Pakistan’s chance to move from freelance-driven exports to enterprise-scale solutions integrated into large-scale Saudi projects from smart cities to financial platforms.
Equally significant is Saudi Arabia’s interest in Pakistan’s minerals and mining sector. The country hosts some of the world’s largest undeveloped reserves of copper, gold, lithium, and rare earths, critical for clean energy and advanced manufacturing. Saudi investment emphasizes not just extraction, but processing, refining and downstream value-added manufacturing.
By bringing financing, expertise, and international credibility, Riyadh addresses the chronic challenges that have stalled Pakistan’s resource economy for decades. If Pakistan fails to provide regulatory certainty and technical capacity, decades of opportunity could be lost.
Energy and infrastructure remain key anchors as well. Beyond deferred oil facilities, Saudi entities are exploring refining, renewables, and logistics projects. Even religious tourism is evolving into an economic corridor, supported by improved transport, hospitality and services infrastructure.
Together, these initiatives mark a clear departure from the past: remittances stabilized Pakistan; technology, minerals, and infrastructure aim to grow it. This new paradigm, however, demands more from Islamabad. Long-term capital requires long-term certainty. Transparent mining laws, enforceable contracts and robust intellectual property protections are essential. Digital policy must prioritize scale, export readiness and industrial integration rather than isolated pilot projects.
Government goodwill must translate into commercially viable partnerships, joint ventures and skills development programs that produce AI specialists, mining engineers and industrial technologists capable of operating complex value chains.
The 2024 launch of the Economic Cooperation Framework (ECF) reinforced that the shift from aid to investment was deliberate and structured. Saudi Arabia’s message is unmistakable: this is no longer about emergency deposits or deferred payments. It is about building Pakistan’s productive economy over decades.
The relationship has always been strong; in my view, the future will be defined less by Saudi goodwill and more by Pakistan’s ability to turn capital into capacity, vision into results.
– Mehreen Durrani is a strategy and transformation independent professional operating at the intersection of policy and technology, driving digital transformation and strategic partnerships to deliver institutional and economic impact.
