Jets on Credit, Economy in Ruins: How Pakistan Buys Bombs While Begging The IMF

New Delhi: “We got $55 billion and built delusions.” That is how former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, summed up a long time of global support to Pakistan in a video clip – which continues to echo greater than 10 years after it used to be recorded. While international locations like South Korea and Taiwan used overseas help to develop into their economies, he says within the video, Pakistan funneled billions into development a “stronger” army and little else.

Fast-forward to May 9, 2025, and the development stays the similar. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) licensed but any other $2.4 billion bailout for Pakistan, $1 billion below the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $1.4 billion below a newly offered Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), meant to improve local weather adaptation. Once once more, the global neighborhood stepped in to stabilise a faltering financial system. And as soon as once more, Pakistan’s protection spending is untouched.

Even because it pleads poverty to global collectors, Pakistan’s army arsenal continues to develop. Despite the truth that a country whose GDP is soaring round simply $236 billion yearly and the rustic scrambles to pay for gasoline, meals and overseas debt, its stockpile of fighter jets, drones, submarines and warships continues to develop.

So how does a cash-strapped nation stay purchasing bombs?

Over 80% of Pakistan’s army imports now come from China. Its improve is going past palms. It extends beneficiant credit score traces with lenient phrases – low rates of interest, prolonged grace sessions and reimbursement schedules that extend over years. This financing technique permits Islamabad to acquire state of the art army equipment with out the quick want for coins.

Pakistan additionally advantages from an bizarre inside construction – an army established order this is mentioned to be economically self-sufficient. Through an infinite business empire encompassing farmland, cement factories, funding companies and housing tasks, Pakistan’s militia generate its personal earnings. Much of it is going past the scrutiny or regulate of the civilian executive.

This “state within a state” fashion allows the army to function with monetary autonomy, whilst the remainder of the rustic faces austerity and borrowing.

International improve traditionally has additional enabled this paradox. Since 1948, the United States on my own has funneled $40 billion into Pakistan via army and financial support. Factoring in contributions from the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada, the determine surpasses $55 billion. But the returns in this funding were questionable.

“Pakistan never gave up its obsession with India. Every dollar just made the military stronger,” Haqqani mentioned within the video, arguing that strategic fixation formed how Pakistan spent its support, now not on construction or reform, however on reinforcing army energy.

Critics these days warn that even IMF price range, intended for financial stabilisation and local weather resilience, might finally end up not directly supporting protection. In Pakistan’s opaque fiscal machine, cash is fungible and oversight is frequently vulnerable. Despite repeated IMF stipulations urging protection spending cuts and structural reforms, little development has been made as a result of Pakistan’s army controls the entirety – political management, assets and decision-making. And this grip presentations no signal of loosening.

Haqqani’s previous caution feels extra related than ever: “Pakistan kept coming back to Uncle Sam every two years after abusing him because Uncle pays the bills.”

Uncle Sam could have been changed through Uncle IMF in 2025. But the expenses, and the bombs, are nonetheless very a lot a part of the tale.