<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON: Atif Mian, a prominent Pakistani-American economist and Princeton University professor, has urged the nation\u2019s future leaders to brace themselves for a challenging economic journey and to outline priorities for recovery.<\/p>\n
Mian emphasised the country\u2019s consistent global economic decline, highlighting last year\u2019s contraction and alarming macroeconomic indicators such as inflation, stunted growth, escalating debt, and diminishing investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government has reached a critical point where it lacks the financial means to sustain basic operations, unable to pay the salaries of even low-ranking employees without resorting to borrowing,\u201d Mian remarked.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that the entire tax revenue is exhausted after disbursing shares to provinces, settling pensions for retirees, and servicing the burgeoning debt, leaving the government running on a perpetual deficit. He asserted that the dire economic situation exacerbates inflation, making it uncontrollable within a deficit-driven governance structure.<\/p>\n
Mian also argued that growth becomes an unattainable goal when the government is unable to invest in the future due to financial constraints. \u201cThe country is bankrupt, sinking deeper every year. I have never seen such despondency. So many wanting to leave, established firms no longer comfortable investing,\u201d said Mian, emphasising the gravity of the situation.<\/p>\n
Addressing the Feb 8 elections, Mian highlighted the people\u2019s frustration, stating, \u201cPeople are mad \u2014 and they have every right to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He underscored the staggering human cost of poverty, citing the alarming statistic of 442,353 children dying in Pakistan last year due to impoverished conditions. Mian criticised the establishment for playing \u201cusual games,\u201d manipulating the political landscape without addressing the pressing economic challenges.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the elections, Mian observed a widening gap between the ruling elite and the general populace, emphasising the potential dangers associated with such a disconnect. He noted the establishment\u2019s attempts to form a compromised government but questioned its effectiveness, stating, \u201cNo one has a plan to fix the economy, but even if they magically did somehow, they cannot do anything because they have lost all trust with their people. They are foreigners in their own land.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Atlantic Council convened a virtual conversation in Washington where experts delved into the intricate implications of Pakistan\u2019s political economy in the aftermath of the Feb 8 elections.<\/p>\n
Safiya Ghori-Ahmad from McLarty Associates underlined Pakistan\u2019s concern about being recognised as credible by the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan does not want to be a part of the countries not recognised as credible by the US,\u201d she said. She was also critical of another government initiative, the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), as it was still not clear how that would work.<\/p>\n
She highlighted the significance of the next few weeks in observing the country\u2019s transformation, particularly in its relations with the IMF and efforts to address inflation.<\/p>\n
Ammar H. Khan, a nonresident senior fellow at the Council\u2019s South Asia Centre, outlined the top priority for the next 100 days \u2014 addressing the energy crisis.<\/p>\n
Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON: Atif Mian, a prominent Pakistani-American economist and Princeton University professor, has urged the nation\u2019s future leaders to brace themselves for a challenging economic journey and to outline priorities for recovery. Mian emphasised the country\u2019s consistent global economic decline, highlighting last year\u2019s contraction and alarming macroeconomic indicators such as inflation, stunted growth, escalating debt, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/02\/13083912cf834f0.png?r=084038","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}