Inflation, IMF and investment — did Pakistan learn anything from 2023?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all that ails Pakistan. 2023 was essentially a year where crises across the political, economic, and security domains coalesced in a way that few could have imagined. And while the near- and long-term implications of the collapse post-2008 democratic order are yet to fully play out, the economic crisis has reached a point where even urban upper-class citizens are beginning to feel the pinch. Here are the key events that perhaps sum up the agony of 2023. Inflation — a monster that refuses to be tamed Pakistani media is known to use the “mehengai ka toofan” [storm of inflation] line to grasp the attention of inattentive eyeballs, but 2023 was truly the year when inflation destroyed the remaining confidence across households. The depreciating currency, rising energy prices, and the second- and third-order effects on yet another ongoing IMF programme ensured that inflation continued to wreak havoc across large swathes of the economy.