In this episode, we continue our focus on Pakistan’s economic crisis and discuss the way out of it with Dr. Ahmed Pirzada. Dr. Ahmed Pirzada is an Assistant Professor at the University of Bristol, UK. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK, and the Chair of the independent Economic Advisory Group (EAG), Pakistan.

He specialises in macroeconomics with a focus in monetary policy, and the conversation dives a bit deeper into what he sees as the main drivers of the crisis, the way out of it, and why debt restructuring may be a decent option.

You should read the EAG’s latest press release on this at this link: https://eag.org.pk/eag-advises-debt-restructuring-and-warns-against-import-substitution-policies/

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:20 What caused this crisis?

19:37 What decisions exacerbated the crisis recently?

28:30 Distorted exchange rate

35:21 Debt restructuring need

45:30 Painful adjustments in the economy

51:11 Reading recommendations

Reading Recommendations:

- This time is different by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff

- Quantum Enigma by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner

- The history of western philosophy by Bertrand Russell