EDITORIAL: Pakistan’s latest ranking near the bottom of the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index is not a surprise, but it is a signal that should no longer be ignored. When a country of over 240 million people sits at 222nd place out of 226, the message is not just about weak numbers; it is about weak systems.
The index, developed by Henley & Partners with AI-driven analytics, measures how countries adapt and recover from shocks. In essence, it separates those that learn from crises from those condemned to repeat them.
Pakistan’s inclusion among the least resilient economies confirms what investors and citizens alike have long sensed: the country’s ability to absorb pressure – economic, political, or climatic – is dangerously thin. That this diagnosis now comes with global benchmarking and empirical precision should be welcomed, not resented.
Data-based assessments such as this one are how progress is made, measured, and made again.
The findings are blunt. Weak governance, limited innovation, and fragile institutions continue to undercut any chance of sustainable growth.
Pakistan may have avoided default through IMF support, remittance inflows, and deposits from friendly countries, but these are short-term patches on a structural fracture. Resilience cannot be built on bailouts. It must be built on productivity, exports, and credible institutions. Without these, stability remains borrowed, not earned.
The ranking also highlights what resilience truly means. It is not the absence of risk but the ability to recover from it. Countries like Switzerland and the Nordic states lead the index because they have institutionalised this very capacity. They have invested in social systems, rule of law, and education that turn volatility into opportunity. Pakistan, on the other hand, continues to confuse firefighting for reform. Every crisis elicits a rescue, rarely a redesign.
Governance failures, however, are only part of the problem. Terrorism and extremism continue to corrode both economic confidence and investor trust. Few factors scare away investment faster than instability and insecurity.
The hardliners now being dealt with by the state should have been confronted years ago; the delay has cost the economy far more than any sanctions or tariffs. The ongoing crackdown is necessary, overdue, and should be pursued until the space for extremism – political or religious – is closed completely. A country cannot project economic confidence when parts of it remain hostage to militancy.
This linkage between resilience and security is crucial. No amount of fiscal adjustment or regulatory reform can compensate for an environment where investors feel unsafe or where contracts are vulnerable to coercion.
National resilience begins with the rule of law and extends through governance, energy, and export policy. That chain breaks if even one link remains compromised.
The economic implications are equally stark. Pakistan’s import-heavy model is unsustainable. FX reserves may have recovered to around USD 14 billion, but without export-led growth and genuine import substitution, the cycle of dependence will persist.
FDI remains weak precisely because policy continuity is not credible. Laws shift with governments, taxes with budgets, and regulations with pressure. Investors can manage risk; what they cannot manage is unpredictability.
What this new index offers is not humiliation but a benchmark. It quantifies where Pakistan stands, how far it has fallen behind, and where the levers of recovery lie. It is an invitation to move beyond rhetoric and toward reform measurable by global standards. The data, the methodology, and the framework all reflect how modern economies assess themselves – transparently, empirically, and continuously. That is the spirit Pakistan must now adopt.
Resilience cannot be imported, and credibility cannot be borrowed. Pakistan has the capacity to build both if it chooses to address the fundamentals – governance, security, human capital, and competitiveness – with discipline rather than delay.
The index may have been compiled abroad, but its message is entirely domestic: nations that refuse to learn from their vulnerabilities remain defined by them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025