Irrelevant numbers June 2, 2021 On Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan made ample use of yet another public appearance to count his government’s economic success stories as he presided over the formal launch of a $500 million international bond. It was a speech that added to several days of an unending chorus from official policymakers, each lining up to claim that Pakistan has effectively turned the corner. But just as more debt (the $500m bond as the latest) is money that has added to Pakistan’s considerable stock of foreign debt which must be paid back eventually, the risk of the surging economic numbers is hard to ignore.