The Country is Bankrupt, Atif Mian Paints a Bleak Picture on Pakistan’s Future

Pakistani-American economist Atif Mian has painted a bleak picture of Pakistan’s economic future in the aftermath of the recent elections. In a thread on X, the economist said that Pakistan’s economy has consistently fallen behind globally and last year was one of the worse, with the economy actually contracting. He said that every macro fundamental is flashing red: inflation, growth, debt, investment, to name a few. He highlighted that the federal government has no money and it cannot even afford to pay the salary of a peon or a soldier without borrowing. The entire tax revenue is consumed after paying provinces their share, pensions to retirees, and interest on debt, he added. The economist said that inflation cannot be controlled when the entire government is run on deficit. Moreover, growth is impossible when government has no money to invest in the future and lack of growth makes every problem worse. ‘The country is bankrupt. It is sinking deeper every year,” he warned. He commented that he had never seen such despondency. He added that so many want to leave, and established firms are no longer comfortable investing. “Yet no leader has a viable economic plan for the future,” he added. “People are mad – and they have every right to be. 442,353 children died in Pakistan just last year due to poverty, which is almost half a million dead kids every year.” “Do they understand how dangerous that is?” he asked. “There is an attempt – once again – to cobble together a compromised group.” “No 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 in their people they are foreigners in their own land,” added Atif.