As the Pakistani government gears up to grapple with the medical side of weeks 4 and 5 (marking a potentially exponential spread) of COVID-19, serious fears are now also beginning to emerge on whether or not Pakistan can economically sustain such a multipronged war. Amidst an environment of plummeting markets, squeezed spending, widespread industrial closures, and a shattered myth of Anglo-Saxon business integrity (almost the entire west has conveniently reneged on agreements and contracts in the name of force majeure), Pakistan’s economy faces yet another external account challenge, this time in the shape of an abrupt loss in exports and incoming home remittances, as customers in Europe and the US refuse to lift contracted goods and thousands of expatriate workers return home after losing their jobs at their workplaces abroad.
