In recent years, the Pakistani passport, often referred to as the ‘green passport’, has seen a significant decline in global rankings by various rating agencies. The Henley Passport Index, a ranking of all the world’s passports, places Pakistan jointly with Yemen at the 103rd place. Only Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan are placed below Pakistan by the Henley Passport Index. Even Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Palestinian Authority, Eritrea, Sudan, Iran, and Libya have been given a higher position than Pakistan!
A low-ranking passport means that the country’s citizens can only travel to a limited number of countries without a visa. Political instability, economic challenges, and diplomatic tensions can all contribute to a country’s passport strength. Pakistani passport holders now have visa-free access to just 34 countries.
Similarly, Passport Index, a real-time global ranking of the world’s passports, updated as frequently as new visa waivers and changes are implemented, places Pakistan at the 95th position, jointly with strife-torn Somalia and ahead of only Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. This ranking system computes the mobility score of passports by including three factors: visa-free entry, visa on arrival, and eVisa (if issued within 3 days).
These low rankings reflect the growing hurdles faced by many Pakistanis who find themselves facing long and often stringent visa application processes with limited options for visa-free travel. The low standing of their passport also poses challenges for Pakistani citizens who want to migrate legally to other countries or even those who simply want to travel abroad for a holiday for sightseeing or for visiting relatives or friends.
Several factors have contributed to the declining strength of the Pakistani passport. Pakistan’s terrorist connections, economic crisis, and political instability have all led to the Pakistani passport now being one of the least ‘powerful’ in the world.
As the political and economic crisis continues in Pakistan, its global standing and the value of its passport are likely to remain under scrutiny.
The Pakistani economy continues to be plagued with high inflation rates, trade deficits, and debt. The ongoing political and economic challenges in their country have led many Pakistanis to seek opportunities abroad, with a notable number attempting illegal migration to European and Gulf countries. This has further complicated the situation.
In countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where begging is illegal, numerous Pakistanis have been arrested and jailed for resorting to such activities, negatively affecting Pakistan’s international image. Another factor tarnishing the reputation of the Pakistani passport is the alleged use of bribery among Afghan refugees in Pakistan to obtain passports. Reports indicate that Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan have managed to secure Pakistani passports through illicit means, which has further compromised the credibility of Pakistani travel documents.
Addressing these issues will require robust governmental action to improve Pakistan’s global image and ensure that its citizens are treated with respect internationally. However, Pakistan’s government has failed in handling this challenge.
In his article ‘The immorality of the survival of the richest’, which was published in the Pakistani newspaper ‘Dawn’ on April 17, 2023, Amir Rafique, Associate Professor at COMSATS University, Islamabad, wrote that Pakistan has a regressive taxation system that only favours the rich class, and the socio-political-economic structure is highly concentrated in a tiny elite. Instead of taxing the rich and investing funds for the benefit of the majority, the situation is the other way around, where the poor are taxed heavily, and the rich are subsidised using that money.
Pakistan’s foreign debt has been mounting, and in August 2024 it was around 131 billion US dollars. Pakistan’s debt-to-GDP ratio had risen to 74.8 per cent last year, and though it has come down to 65.7 per cent (the lowest it’s been in over six years), it is still very high. Pakistan owes money to many debtors, including:
China: Pakistan owes China the most, with $68.91 billion in debt as of November 2023. This debt is mostly for infrastructure and energy projects.
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Multilateral donors: Pakistan owes $38.813 billion to multilateral donors.
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International Monetary Fund (IMF): Pakistan owes $7.596 billion to the IMF.
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Paris Club: Pakistan owes $7.541 billion to the Paris Club.
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International bonds: Pakistan owes $7.8 billion to international bonds such as Eurobonds and Sukuks.
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Banks: Pakistan owes $11.7 billion to banks in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
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Private enterprises: Pakistan owes $18.1 billion to private enterprises.
Due to years of gross financial mismanagement, Pakistan has been forced to repeatedly turn to the IMF for loans to meet its needs. It has taken more than 20 loans from the IMF since 1958 and is currently its fifth-largest debtor. This is itself an indication of how Pakistan’s economy has been ailing for decades and continues to be on a downward slide.
It may be recalled that last year, Pakistan was on the brink of defaulting on its debts and had barely enough in foreign currencies to pay for a month of imports. In July 2023, the IMF had approved a $3 billion bailout package for Pakistan, and it also received funds from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Within a year of getting the above IMF bailout package of $3 billion, cash-strapped Pakistan was again on the brink of defaulting on its debts and had barely enough in foreign currencies to pay for a month of imports. On September 25, this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved another $7 billion loan to Pakistan. The country received the first $1 billion of the loan immediately, and the balance is to be paid out over the next three years.
When sanctioning the $7 billion loan, the IMF had told Pakistan that the new bailout programme “will require sound policies and reforms” to stabilise and make the economy more resilient. The IMF wanted the loan to be used for creating a more prosperous and more inclusive Pakistan and for improving living standards for all Pakistanis. Clearly, the IMF was concerned that Pakistan’s economic policies are not ‘inclusive’ and that large sections of society continue to be impoverished and marginalised.
As part of the deal, the Shahbaz Sharif government had agreed to a number of unpopular measures suggested by the IMF, such as ending subsidies on electricity. The Pakistan government had been subsidising electricity for years. The IMF felt that the expenditure on this subsidy was a drain on the Government’s resources and insisted that these subsidies should be ended. Pakistan had agreed to do so.
After this loan was sanctioned, the first review meeting between the IMF and Pakistan was scheduled to take place towards the end of the first quarter of 2025. However, an IMF mission arrived in Pakistan four months in advance on November 11 for an unscheduled meeting. Pakistani media sources said that the Pakistan government had not expected the IMF team to come after just six weeks of the approval of the $7 billion loan.The IMF was concerned about the implementation of the agreed-upon reforms between the two sides and wanted to assess Pakistan’s eligibility for the next tranche of the bailout package.
It came to the attention of the IMF that there was a huge shift to solar power generation in the homes of upper and upper-middle-class Pakistanis. As a result, the dependence of these affluent Pakistanis on electricity supplied by the government had come down. The Pakistan Government’s expenditure figures made no mention of any subsidy for solar energy generation units. However, upon further investigation, it was discovered that while the subsidies were not given by the federal government, the state governments were subsidising the setting up of solar energy plants.
Pakistan’s finance ministry perhaps thought it could conceal the subsidies on solar energy units in this manner, but the IMF was smart enough to detect how the affluent sections were being assisted through subsidies by state governments for setting up solar power generation units for their homes.
Abraham Lincoln had said that democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. A functioning, robust democracy requires an educated, morally grounded leadership. However, democracy has not taken root in Pakistan. What we see there is a plutocracy—a government controlled by the wealthy and privileged. This has resulted in policies that are not designed to pull the poor out of poverty. The World Bank has said that over 40 per cent of Pakistan’s population now lives below the poverty line. The country also has one of the lowest per capita incomes in South Asia and the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.
Pakistan is grappling with economic difficulties, including dwindling forex reserves, high inflation, and sharp depreciation of its currency. As Maleeha Lodhi, the eminent Pakistani writer who has also served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, UK, and the UN, opined in an article published on May 31, 2022, in the ‘Asia News Network’, ‘Without economic stability, everything else will be in vain. If politics and economics continue to collide, the country’s future will be anything but bright’. One hopes that the Pakistanis will be able to rectify the unfortunate situation that exists in their country, though it may be a long haul for them.
The writer is a retired Indian diplomat and had previously served as Consul General in New York. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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