Chief Economist & Political Strategist, CrossASEAN Research

Prasenjit K. Basu

PK Basu has 34 years experience covering Asia's economies and markets (equities, fixed income and currencies), including 20 years covering the global economy. He was Chief Economist (SE Asia & India) at Credit Suisse First Boston for 5 years, and Chief Asia (x-Jpn) Economist at Daiwa Securities for a similar period. Among other roles, he was global head of research at Maybank Kim Eng, Malaysia equity research head and chief ASEAN economist at Macquarie, Chief Economist at ICICI Securities, ASEAN economist at UBS and the first chief economist at Khazanah Nasional (where he was co-head of research, and led all agri-business initiatives). PK Basu started his career in the Asia Service of WEFA (Wharton Econometrics) in Philadelphia in 1990, rising to be Director of their Asia Service in June 1994. 
PK's book, "Asia Reborn: A continent rises from the ravages of Colonialism and War to a New Dynamism" won the Tata Literature First Book Award (non-fiction) for 2018. It is the first single chronicle of the modern economic and political history of the whole of Asia (from Iraq and Turkey to Korea and Japan, and everything in between), told from an Asian perspective.

Chief Economist & Political Strategist

Military Intimidation Aimed at Bringing Imran's PTI to Power; It May Work, but Will Fuel Instability

India Politics: Will Imran Led Pakistan Be More Aggressive on Kashmir? Implications for Subcontinent

Prime Minister-Elect Imran Has His Work Cut Out, Starting with Negotiation of an IMF Loan

Pakistan Economy: Credit Rating Agencies Turning "Negative"

REAL-Economics.com

Macroeconomics

Karachi Stock Exchange Kse100 Index (KSE100 INDEX)

<p><strong>With its central banks' net foreign assets below zero for the past three months, and external debt equal to nearly 400% of annual goods exports, Pakistan urgently needs a new IMF rescue package (or a similar package from one of China's development banks). But neither will want to negotiate a large loan with a caretaker government, so any rescue is unlikely before end-July (following the 25th July election). We recommend that investors should switch out of Pakistan to Bangladesh (a frontier</strong>…</p>

With its central banks' net foreign assets below zero for the past three months, and external debt equal to nearly 400% of annual goods exports, Pakistan urgently needs a new IMF rescue package (or a similar package from one of China's development banks). But neither will want to negotiate a large loan with a caretaker government, so any rescue is unlikely before end-July (following the 25th July election). We recommend that investors should switch out of Pakistan to Bangladesh (a frontier…

Pakistan: A Full Blown Crisis Ahead of Elections, Implying a Large IMF or China Rescue Is Needed