Pakistan's current economic challenges reflect not the absence of resources or talent, but years of political and economic instability, weak investment and difficult fiscal choices that have constrained its ability to convert those assets into lasting prosperity.
DHAKA — Pakistan's current economic challenges reflect not the absence of resources or talent, but years of political and economic instability, weak investment and difficult fiscal choices that have constrained its ability to convert those assets into lasting prosperity -- a lesson that Bangladesh should learn from, a recent report has highlighted.
Islamabad is now pursuing reforms, with the World Bank's ten-year partnership framework highlighting the need for fiscal, energy and business environment restructuring in the South Asian nation, the report added.
For Bangladesh, the lesson should be clear. Having emerged from the ruins of 1971 and moved beyond the economic inequalities of the Pakistan period, the country should not "mistake the symbols of power for the foundations of power", according to a report in leading Bangladeshi newspaper, Daily Sun.
"Bangladesh's economic journey since 1971 is perhaps the strongest rebuttal to the pessimism that once surrounded the new nation. Emerging from a devastating war, widespread poverty and the legacy of economic inequality under the hegemony of Pakistan, Bangladesh chose to invest in its people, empower women, expand exports and build resilience," the report detailed.
"More than five decades later, the former East Pakistan has not merely survived independently; it has surpassed Pakistan on several important economic and social indicators. That achievement deserves recognition, but it also carries a warning: Bangladesh must not allow the pursuit of military or geopolitical strength to overshadow the economic foundations of national power," it added.
The report noted that warning assumes significance amid recent developments in Islamabad.
Pakistan's Senate Functional Committee on Devolution, headed by Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro, has recommended the closure of around two dozen federal ministries and departments.
The list includes health, education, national food security, water resources, climate change, housing, planning and development, industries and petroleum. The committee said that federal spending has climbed to Pakistani Rs 19 trillion and should be brought down to Rs 13 trillion, with several responsibilities devolved entirely to the provinces, Daily Sun mentioned.
Arguing that Pakistan's challenges extend beyond the size of its government, the report cited the World Bank's assessment that the country's development has been hindered for decades by "policy and institutional weaknesses".
It noted that periods of economic growth have repeatedly been followed by rising debt, trade imbalances and difficult economic adjustments.
Citing the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the report said that Pakistan's military expenditure rose 11 per cent in 2025 to $11.9 billion, driven largely by orders for new aircraft and missiles.
Highlighting the growing economic crisis in Pakistan, it said, "But when a country faces crushing debt-service costs and weak public revenues, it is legitimate to ask whether national security is being defined too narrowly through military capability while economic security receives insufficient attention."