Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was born on the 25th December 1949 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan and is widely known as the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, President of Pakistan’s largest political party – Pakistan Muslim League (N) as well as an industrialist who owns some of the world’s leading business conglomerates – Ittefaq Group and Sharif Group.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth the “Lion of the Punjab” has accumulated so far? How rich Nawaz Sharif is? According to sources, it is estimated that the total amount of Nawaz Sharif’s net worth, as of mid-2016, is $1.4 billion, acquired primarily through his business career which complements his political one, active since 1976.
Nawaz Sharif Net Worth $1.4 billion
Nawaz Sharif was born into an upper-middle class family – his father Muhammad Sharif was the founder of a small steel smelting shop called Ittefaq Foundries which later, under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, became Ittefaq Group. Nawaz Sharif attended St. Anthony’s High School in his hometown, before enrolling at Government College University from which he graduated with a degree in art and business. Nawaz later continued his education, and obtained a Punjab University Law College’s bachelor of law degree.
The beginning of Nawaz Sharif’s political career is bonded to the early 1970s nationalization period, during which his family’s steel factory was nationalized, taken over by the government. Still young at that time, Nawaz Sharif joined the Pakistan Muslim League in the early 1980s; ambitious and competent, Nawaz became the finance minister of the Punjab Province in 1981. During his four years term in this position, he positively affected the province’s industrial development and managed to regain his family business. In 1985, Nawaz Sharif was appointed Punjab’s chief minister, a position carrying huge political influence and industrial strength, which also resulted in a considerable increment to his overall net worth.
After 1985, Nawaz Sharif became the leader of the Islami-Jahmoree-Itehad coalition under the Pakistan Muslim League. In 1990, he was elected as a Member of Parliament, followed immediately by his elevation to Pakistan’s Prime Minister, which position he held between 1990 and 1993. During his term, he dismantled Pakistan’s socialist-style economy by privatizing bankrupted national companies; these economic reforms have certainly helped Nawaz Sharif to increase his overall net worth – his family business’ net worth recorded growth of $190 million.
Between 1993 and 1996, Nawaz Sharif served as opposition leader before returning to the position of the Prime Minister for the second time between 1997 and 1999, when he was overthrown by a military coup, and went into a 10 years-long exile in Saudi Arabia. However, this did not disrupt Nawaz’s political and business ventures.
In 2013, Nawaz Sharif made a miraculous political comeback and was installed as Pakistan’s Prime Minister for the third time.
Apart from politics, Nawaz Sharif is also a successful businessman, the owner of what started as a small family steel shop, and which has grown into the Ittefaq Group, a steel conglomerate with a total net worth of almost $1 billion. Nawaz Sharif is also the owner of Sharif Group, Ittefaq Group’s sister corporation, which gathers agricultural holdings, sugar mills and transportation companies. These successful enterprises have helped Nawaz Sharif to gain his political authority as well as to add millions to the overall size of his fortune. Nawaz Sharif is currently ranked #4 on the Richest People in Pakistan list.
When it comes to his personal life, Nawaz Sharif is married to Kalsoom Butt, with whom he has two sons and a daughter.
