Pakistan Institute for Development Economics (PIDE) Vice Chancellor Dr Rashid Amjad said on Wednesday that Pakistan must open up trade with India to restore international confidence in the Pakistan’s economy. He was speaking at a roundtable entitled “Global Economic Crisis, Regional Dimensions, and Pakistan”. The event was organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). Center for International Strategic Studies Executive Director Ali Sarwar Naqvi was also present on the occasion. Dr Amjad was of the view that economic protection should always be time-bound, since after a certain period of time it might become unsustainable.
While brushing aside the so called strategic concerns, Dr Amjad argued that weak economies could never gain strategic edge over their rivals through short-term measures. Amjad was of the view that Pakistan would be badly hit by the global economic crisis because of its lesser intra-regional integration and that the global crisis could deepen Pakistan’s slow economic growth rate coupled with high-inflation or stagflation. He argued that Bangladesh and India might not be affected as adversely as Pakistan because of their strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Other participants of the discussion also emphasised the importance of improving governance, controlling corruption, and improving revenue generation for withstanding global economic crises.
