Remittances vs FDI: can Pakistan break the cycle?

GIVEN the current economic crisis, all analysts and pundits expect a contractionary budget. The question does not appear to be whether taxes will be increased; but rather, to what extent and for which sectors. In March, Pakistan’s large-scale manufacturing industries decreased by 9.35 per cent, a third consecutive month of declines. Recent years of pandemic, floods, political instability at home and global economic crisis abroad have taken a steep toll on investments and other inflows that could revive the economy. However, historically, Pakistan has not successfully attracted investment at the scale of other countries in the region. Overall, the consensus seems to be that a single budget in times of economic crisis cannot undo decades of policies that have allowed Pakistan to fall further behind each year.