Daily Times

One can only wonder what FATF’s technicality of on-site visit before finalising Pakistan’s clearance from the grey list really entails except dragging the issue even further, because it has already seen whatever it needs in fine print; court decisions and all. Nevertheless, the Pakistani side is seeing this as a mere last-step technicality and celebrating victory already. Markets have been happy enough in the run up to the decision, and how they react to it will become clear when they open today, but suffice to say that they’ve already pretty much priced in greater foreign investment, which means they saw the green light coming ahead of the rest of the pack.

This brings Pakistan to a very important crossroads. There’s still no telling if the IMF program will be salvaged or not, and along with it the whole economy. And while foreign aid will remain as important as it will be increasingly difficult to get, clearance from FATF will allow more prized foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. Till we work out a way to breathe more life into our exports and do something about the trade balance, FDI will be the game-changer.

It’s unfortunate that domestically this matter never got the attention it deserved and political parties are still looking to score points over which way this is swinging. These are times when anything that involves the economy requires everybody to work together and find lasting solutions to complex problems. Hopefully soon enough when Pakistan is legally in the clear it will not be held down by the prospect of increasing toxicity of local political discourse scaring away any foreign investment that might be looking to come here after the FATF waiver. That would really be a crying shame. *