Twirp : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Republic Pakistan 3

[Naresh]

<b>Friends of Pakistan</b>

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

There have been positive vibes emanating from the meeting of the "Friends of Pakistan" on Friday in New York with promises to assist Pakistan economically. This is good news.

However, at the expense of sounding like I am taking away the punch bowl, financing without economic adjustment would be a folly. <b>No matter the amount, and there is talk of around $10 billion, with our macroeconomic imbalances as large as they are, the inflow of money will simply disappear into the void.</b> Our foreign exchange reserves will stabilize as the money comes in and then start to deplete. After a brief respite, we will be in trouble again. What would we have gained under this scenario except time?

The Pakistan economy needs to adjust. The fiscal imbalance needs to be cut; the external balance needs to be reduced. They will not magically self-correct.

I fear we are, once again, facing a huge 'moral hazard' problem. Without insisting tough measures, while putting pressure on the IMF and the World Bank to go easy on us, the "Friends of Pakistan" are rewarding Pakistan for its deeply flawed economic policies.

<b>Dr Meekal Aziz Ahmed

Virginia, US</b>

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->