Pakistan and the Economics of Diplomacy

Khurram Husain, one of Pakistan’s most widely read business and economy journalists and a columnist at Dawn, joins host Tushar Shetty to examine whether Pakistan’s recent diplomatic gains are translating into meaningful economic progress. They discuss the tangible but limited economic benefits of Pakistan's geopolitical revival, the impact of the Iran conflict and Hormuz blockade on Pakistan's fuel supply chain and inflation, the emergence of a new regional grouping around Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan and the trade complementarities unlocked by Iran's reintegration, the mixed legacy of CPEC and China's retreat from large-scale economic engagement with Pakistan, the structural roots of Pakistan's IMF dependency in successive cycles of military rule, the prospects for India-Pakistan stabilization and a peace dividend, the drivers behind Pakistan’s rapid solar adoption, and the limits of geoeconomics as a substitute for domestic fiscal and structural reform.