Pakistan remains outside the G20 decision-making room, yet shifts in global trade, debt and payment rules reach Karachi’s ports, factories and banks. By Munaeem Jamal Between the Port and the Bank One kilometre separates my office on I. I. Chundrigar Road from Karachi Port. On a humid morning, the air carries diesel mixed with salt as trucks complain through traffic; inside nearby bank offices, a Chinese machinery payment moves without noise through coded screens and correspondent accounts. I keep returning to the distance between those two worlds because Pakistan’s position in the global economy sits inside it. The machine may arrive from Shanghai. The dollars behind it still pass through a financial order shaped largely in Washington and other Western centres, while the infrastructure surrounding that trade may carry financing terms negotiated with Beijing. Pakistan does not write any of those rules, but Karachi receives the cargo and absorbs the risk when powerful states chang...
Every morning, I travel to an office on I. I. Chundrigar Road, barely a kilometre from Karachi Port. Trucks carry machinery, chemicals, fuel and industrial inputs through the city. Their constant movement creates an impression of economic strength. Yet I often wonder how many factories would remain open if those containers stopped arriving for thirty days. The question becomes harder when I consider the financial side of trade. A shipment may be available overseas, but a Pakistani importer still needs foreign currency, an acceptable payment arrangement and a correspondent bank willing to complete the settlement. A country can possess ports, roads and warehouses while remaining dependent on decisions made elsewhere. Japan has started identifying what its economy cannot afford to lose. Pakistan has yet to connect its economic vulnerabilities, industrial priorities and public spending with comparable precision. Japan Connects Economic Security to Money A Japan Research Institute rep...