By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan’s economy is on the verge of collapse, with inflation soaring, growth stagnating, debt mounting, and investment dwindling, according to a globally renowned economist who criticized the recent elections as fraudulent and manipulated by the military establishment.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Atif Mian, a professor at Princeton University, said Pakistan’s economy had consistently fallen behind globally and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Mian, who is widely respected for his research on inequality, debt and macroeconomics, was briefly appointed as a member of former prime minister Imran Khan’s economic advisory council in 2018, but he resigned after facing backlash from religious groups over his Ahmadi faith, a minority sect that is persecuted in Pakistan.
Mian launched a scathing attack on Pakistan’s military and political elite for rigging the Feb 8 elections and plunging the country into a deep economic crisis.
“Pakistan’s economy has consistently fallen behind globally – last year was one of the worst, with the economy actually contracting,” Mian wrote in a series of tweets.
“Every macro fundamental is flashing red: inflation, growth, debt, investment, to name a few… The federal government has no money. It cannot even afford to pay the salary of a peon or a soldier without borrowing.”
Mian said the country was bankrupt and “is sinking deeper every year” as the entire tax revenue was consumed after paying provinces their share, pensions to retirees, and interest on debt.
He said inflation could not be controlled when the government was running on a deficit, and growth was impossible when the government had no money to invest in the future.
“I have never seen such despondency. So many want to leave, established firms are no longer comfortable investing. Yet no leader has a viable economic plan for the future,” he added.
Mian also accused the military establishment, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its history, of being “clueless” and “shady” for interfering in the electoral process and manipulating the results to maintain their power and influence.
“The shady establishment that calls the shots from behind is especially clueless. SIFC? … Really? You expect foreigners to believe in the country when your own people are losing all hope?”
Mian said the establishment was playing its usual games of putting some politicians in jail and others in parliament, while ignoring the plight of the people, especially the children who were dying of poverty.
“It is in this backdrop that Feb 8 elections were held. People are mad – and they have every right to be. 442,353 children died in Pakistan just last year due to poverty. That is almost half a million dead kids EVERY YEAR,” he said.
“But the establishment was busy playing its usual games – put this one in jail, and that one in parliament this time – keep the system just unstable enough so we stay relevant – our children be damned.”
Mian said the establishment sensed the people’s anger and tried to rig the elections, but it only made the public madder.
“So here we are post Feb 8 – the distance between the ruler and the ruled has never been wider. Do they understand how dangerous that is?”
He also said that the country’s leaders had no viable economic plan for the future, and that they had lost the trust of the people, who were angry and desperate.
“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 with their people. They are foreigners in their own land.”
Mian’s tweets came after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the complete results of the parliamentary elections held on Feb 8, which were marred by allegations of fraud and violence.
According to the ECP, independent candidates loyal to the jailed Khan won the most seats in the parliamentary elections. Independents secured 93 of the 266 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, led by another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, came in second with 75 seats, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari with 54 seats.
The closely contested general election left no party with a clear majority, though bitter rivals, Khan and Sharif, both claimed victory, setting the stage for a possible showdown in the coming days.
The United States and the European Union both called for a thorough investigation into the reports of problems during the voting process, including the arrests of activists, the intimidation of voters, and the manipulation of results.
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