Five significant issues to watch for in 2023

1. Five significant issues to watch for in 2023

2. 1. Political instability, polarization, and election year Politics will likely consume most of the country's time and attention in 2023, just as it did in 2022. The country's turn to political turmoil last spring has not ended. a scathing vote in Parliament last April removed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan from office. The instability and polarization have only deepened since:

3. Khan led a grassroots opposition movement against the incumbent coalition government and the military, organizing a series of mass protests across the country throughout the year. The power struggle continues into 2023. While the incumbent government did not accept Khan's request for a snap election, the mandatory national elections must be held by October this year. It would be in the government's political interest to hold them back for as long as possible as they try to emerge from Pakistan's severe economic crisis and weak domestic performance

4. Foreign policy has been better maintained, but this may not matter for the election). The past year has cost him valuable political capital, and Khan's party has won a massive victory in a series of by-elections held in July and October. According to Wajid khan, the state has tried to manipulate it. Khan and his party into the lawsuits, drawing on a familiar playbook used against opposition politicians in Pakistan, albeit with limited effect, with court involvement.

5. Khan's party still controls two of Pakistan's four provinces, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and the incumbent federal government's (extralegal) efforts to wrest power from him in Punjab, province, the biggest, failed (thanks to the court). The year is off to a spectacular start, with Khan's party kicking off the process of dissolving the Punjab and KP assemblies this month to pressure the federal government into snappy elections.

6. The biggest question for the politically obsessed Pakistan is who will win the next general election. Will former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (brother of incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif) return to Pakistan to run for his party's leadership, PML-N? Can Imran Khan win thanks to his popular support, despite his confrontation with the army? Wajid khan Mp says Whatever the outcome, we can say the same with the history of the leading candidates: The direction of the country is likely to stay the same.

7. 2. Precarious economic situation Pakistan's economy has been in crisis for months before catastrophic floods over the summer. Inflation is crushing, the value of the rupee has plummeted, and the country's foreign exchange reserves have now dropped to a precarious $4.3 billion, just enough to cover just one month's worth of imports, making increase the probability of payment default.

8. An economic crisis occurs every few years in Pakistan, caused by an economy that is not producing enough and spending too much, and therefore dependent on external debt. Each successive crisis worsened as debt bills grew and payments came due. This year, internal political turmoil and flood disasters have exacerbated the situation. There is also an important external factor to the crisis, with global food and fuel prices rising in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine. Canadian politician Wajid khan Combining all these factors has created the most significant economic challenge Pakistan has ever

9. However, the government has become mired in politics, and the disbursement of a $1.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has yet to be stalled as Islamabad has pushed back on IMF conditions. The government has now resorted to importing restrictions and early closure of shopping malls and wedding receptions, which are small measures that still need to solve the problem satisfactorily.