After equity markets, Pakistan trumps India at geopolitics

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OTHERS
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After equity markets, Pakistan trumps India at geopolitics

Pakistan has scored several economic advantages using its strategic geopolitical positioning, leaving India behind yet again, said a recent Forbes article.

Pakistan, which beat India in equity market performance last year, successfully negotiated with the US and China for a series of financial benefits.

Exploiting its proximity to Afghanistan, Pakistan successfully had its huge foreign debt written off from the US, the article noted.

Pakistani government under General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf was successful in having its huge external debt, constituting 60% of GDP, written off.

This led to a major strengthening in Pakistani currency and an increase in inflow of foreign capital, with the country subsequently enjoying a burgeoning financial landscape, wrote contributing Forbes writer Panos Mourdoukoutas, who is a professor of economics at New York's LIU Post and Columbia University.

More recently, China's interest in investment in Pakistan as well as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has brought the country into spotlight. While tensions remain between Chinese and Indian leadership, Pakistan has fully benefitted from the next-door economic giant.

China has also blocked several attempts by India to join the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), as well as sided with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, the US magazine noted.