Pod#186 - Ammar Habib Khan - How the Uncle Raj destroyed Pakistan's economy

TPR Pod

The economy of Pakistan is seemingly in a destructive spiral. While the podcast can't fix that, what we can do is talk about how we got here. To that end we've got noted finance guy and self proclaimed Twitter shitposter Ammar Habib Khan on the show. Just like our previous episodes with Umair Javed & MystaPaki, this isn't a fun one but it might just be an important one.

Things discussed in this episode:

00:00 Intro - who is Ammar why is he here

04:18 - “Pakistan is going to default” - what does that mean & how that will just be the beginning of the downward spiral

13:23 If so many politicians are agricultural landowners, why aren’t policies better?

19:42 Why smuggling is at an all-time high

23:35 The informal/cash-based economy is at 800 billion rupees. Why this is, and what it causes

30:12 How demonetization can help the cash-based economy crisis, why politicians won’t support it

37:00 Import bans & subsidies - seem like good ideas, only if you don’t think about them

42:46 Are the people in charge really so incompetent?

47:59 How disconnected the elites in charge are from the reality of the majority

55:35 The problems that need solving are basic in the extreme, if only they are recognized

1:01:55 The only hope is that the solutions to the problems are not novel and there are clear examples in other countries

1:07:07 Quick Islamabad review and outro

LINKS:

Ammar's Twitter: https://twitter.com/rogueonomist

His article: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/03/12/where-theres-a-way-theres-no-will/

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