1.

Economic opportunities available to Pakistan

a. Youth Bulge, a demographic dividend with education, skills development leading to
cheap labor and high attraction for foreign investors
b. 3rd Democratic transition and political stability; a government with a country-wise
mandate, create consensus to take tough economic reform measure such as privatizing
loss-making public enterprises
c. Much improved law and order situation; terrorist attacks rare now, FATA reforms,
greater human and capital security in Pakistan
d. CPEC: A Game changer; energy, road and rail infrastructure, agricultural
modernization, transit route for international trade, invite other countries to join such
as Iran
e. 25% reduction in global oil prices in the previous 4 months, reduce oil imports bill
and save foreign exchange
f. Improved Ease of Doing Business; 147 to 136 from 2017 to 2018
g. Much improved Energy infrastructure; generation capacity has increased to nearly
30,000 MWs as opposed to demand of 25,000 MWs, problem of plants not running at
full capacity can be solved with better governance and government subsidies, 19,000
being produced

2. IMF and Pakistan

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster
global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote
high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”

a. Tasks:
i. Economic surveillance
ii. Lending in case of Balance of Payments Crisis
iii. Capacity Development
b. History:
i. 1944 Bretton Woods Conference 44 countries, promote international monetary
cooperation to prevent any destructive policies like the ones that lead to World
War 2
c. Problems:
i. Money is only awarded to a country if it agrees to hire US construction firms,
which ensures a select few people get rich.
ii. The loans are intentionally too big for any developing nation to repay and this
debt burden virtually guarantees the developing nation will support the political
interests of the United States.
iii. The top 1 percent of third world households account for 70 to 90 percent of all
private financial wealth and real estate ownership in their country.
The imperialist and capitalist drive is so strong and so pervasive that it has become the primary
cause of most wars, pollution, starvation, species extinctions, and genocides.