Geopolitical rents
After 9/11, the world went easy on Pakistan because it was an ally on the war in Afghanistan. Now that war is over. According to Uzair, it could have been the case that traditionally, the US President would have made a phone call to the IMF and told it to go easy on a country. This happened with Argentina, which landed a great IMF program because it was considered an important Latin America country. (
The IMF was criticised for “placing geopolitics over economics” in this case).
“Pakistan doesn’t have value in the same way anymore,” he says. “The geopolitical rents are not the same. This is why there is strictness.”