Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, on Monday announced that Saudi Arabia will spend up to $25 billion over the next two to five years in a variety of sectors and that his administration will also restart the privatisation process that had once stalled.

After evading a sovereign debt default in July thanks to a $3 billion loan plan agreed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan is starting down a difficult road to economic recovery under the caretaker administration.

Speaking to reporters at his official residence, Kakar said Saudi Arabia would engage in the mining, agriculture, and IT industries as part of efforts to boost foreign direct investment in Pakistan.

This will be Saudi Arabia’s largest-ever investment in Pakistan. If verified by the kingdom, the investments would amount to a total of $25 billion.

Pakistan, a longtime ally of Riyadh, is experiencing a balance of payments crisis and needs billions of dollars in foreign currency to finance its trade imbalance and pay off its foreign loans for the current fiscal year.

Kakar did not name the projects Riyadh was interested in funding, but Barrick Gold Corp stated last month that it was open to partnering with the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund in Pakistan’s Reko Diq gold and copper mine.

Kakar’s administration has presently estimated Pakistan’s undeveloped mineral deposits at a conservative $6 trillion.

Barrick, which owns a 50 per cent of the Reko Diq mine, believes it to be one of the greatest untapped copper-gold regions in the world. The governments of Pakistan and the Balochistan province jointly own the remaining 50 per cent.

In addition, Kakar stated that his administration would work to privatise another government-owned company outside the energy industry in addition to finanlising two privatisation transactions in the next six months, likely for state-run businesses in the power sector.

State-owned businesses in Pakistan have long been a source of apprehension because of their deteriorating financial conditions. Pakistan recently added the financially troubled state-run Pakistan International Airlines to the list for privatisation.

The country’s privatisation process has virtually come to a standstill since selling state assets has historically been a politically touchy subject that many elected governments have avoided.

(With inputs from Reuters)