"It's down to Washington."
"I am sorry?"
"It's down to Washington, the economy is down to Washington DC."
"You are saying that the performance of our economy is down to Washington and not to Pakistan!"
"Yes."
"That is ridiculous."
"No, it isn't my friend. The top economic team is in Washington seeking assistance desperately to shore up our balance of payment position. This government doubled the country's external debt..."
"That is generally taken to mean support of the international community to our economic policies."
"Two things, first in our case multilateral assistance was in the form of loans largely at market rates of interest which has massively increased public debt, not a good position to be in, and secondly, major foreign assistance post-IMF Stand By Arrangement has dried up attributed to sustained failure of this government to implement reforms that it agreed to and so now the government is borrowing internally which is further drying up private sector borrowing, the energy sector is continuing to take a heavy toll on domestic output and..."
"That's more than two things besides you used the word sustained - that shows continuity which is desirable from an economic perspective."
"Don't be facetious."
"Well, the economic team wants the invoices submitted by Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund to be disbursed immediately and..."
"So what happened to remittances? I mean weren't the massive rise in remittances sufficient to provide the support to the balance of payment position..."
"No, expenditure rose massively, partly due to rising borrowing costs as well as..."
"You are a die-hard pessimist, always seeing the glass as half empty rather than half full..."
"The true expression..."
"I know what the expression really is, but my point is look at the bright side. The President is off to a number of countries to lure foreign investors to Pakistan, Raja sahib is still the Prime Minister..."
"Lure foreign investors when PPP stalwarts are not bringing their money into the country."
"I will deport you to Switzerland, and I hope you freeze to death there."
"You don't need to do that, I am freezing in this country as my gas heater has died as natural a death as the CNG stations."