CNBC: Blackouts, currency dives and corruption: Pakistan’s economy is on the brink of collapse
* International Monetary Fund officials are in Islamabad for make-or-break talks over unlocking a $7 billion bailout fund.
* IMF officials want to see Pakistan’s government implement fiscal reforms before releasing any of the funds.
* Pakistan only has enough foreign currency reserves to pay for roughly three weeks of imports.
Pakistan’s economy is on a cliff-edge.
The South Asian country this week suffered a horrific bombing attack on a mosque that took at least 100 lives. On Jan. 24, the country’s 230 million residents were hit with a nationwide blackout. At time of writing, the Pakistani rupee is at a record low against the dollar.
These are just the latest shocks amid months of crisis as endemic government corruption, depleted foreign reserves and crippling debt have sent Pakistan’s economy spiraling.
“What would you like to know? How a bag of flour, essential here as we eat roti or chapati on a daily basis, has more than doubled in price? How fuel prices nearly doubled in less than a year?” Mohammed Usman, a photographer living in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, told CNBC.
Read more ....
Update: Blackouts and soaring prices: Pakistan’s economy is on the brink (CNN)
WNU Editor: Political insecurity. Horrible security situation. Chronic corruption. Economic mismanagement. The big surprise is that Pakistan's economy has survived for as long as it has.
4 comments:
It survived on western Handouts! And now we still can’t figure out how to handle a Chinese spy balloon floating around in our airspace? Still floating as I type this. What a joke we really are to the world.
Majority of the population, directly or indirectly, dependent on the agriculture sector which was almost wiped out by record floods last year. The situation in Pakistan is very dire, very scary situation considering their arsenal and unpredictable military leaders. This increase in poverty will breed more extremists and more out country attacks, most likely directed at India.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64396138
Not sure how much Pompeo is trying to build this story to sell his memoir but it shows how one terror attack can escalate into a tic for tac situation between 2 nuclear armed nations.
What 11:07 said: "It survived on western Handouts!"
I'll had that they received handouts while betraying the US. sure the floods hurt. the floods hurt bad. But maybe the US would help out, if the Pakistanis had not used and abused us.
Well they burnt that bridge.
I vehemently disagree with 11:13's take of tic for tac. It has been Pakistan that does most of not all of the offending.
2008 Mumbai attacks
- Dead 175
- Wounded 300+
Has India done anything comparable?
Pakistan is its own problem.
Pakistan is everyone's problem.
In 2018, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attack
Post a Comment