Now is also the time for the PTI to seek the best versed and most competent economists to figure out what kind of shock therapy can get Pakistan back on track, over the course of the next 5-10 years. Getting a real economic plan in hand, will convince global investors that REAL change is coming, and that the PTI is not just different faces with the same policies of debt based spending.
Convincing global investors and rating agencies is one way of swaying international opinion to your side. Investors love a chance at a high growth emerging market, including yours truly.
Some things we already know, cut government spending such as the subsidies to industrialists, raise taxes on unproductive capital such as property taxes, maintain good relations with the west to help refinance the debt to lower interests payments, attract FDI to utilize the excess electricity and grow out of the electricity problems, seek a cheap loan from the diaspora in the form of bonds to help building out the industries and social services that will end the electricity price problem and long term growth problem; education and agricultural modernization.
Listen to the last few minutes of the following video from 19:45 forward, where WSJ interviewed the Wall Street Journal’s Sadanand Dhume. This is why we need to bring in Atif Mian as finance minister. He has some policy recommendations but he also signals that economics is the top priority, as Pakistan will prioritize his merit over his faith. Pakistan needs a Deng Xioping at this moment, IK, needs to step into this role more so then any other to right the ship of state.
Do just that change, of appointing Atif Mian, and right out the gate, IK will get good stories in the pages of the WSJ by Dhume. That will change rating agencies opinions and potentially lower borrowing costs. Signals of real change matter.
