Pakistan, April 18 -- Is it really light at the end of the tunnel? Fitch Ratings lifted Pakistan's long?term foreign?currency rating to B- from CCC+, in a rare nod to the country's recent policy strides.

Just last month, Islamabad pared its year-on-year budget deficit down from $2.288 billion, going so far as to aim for a surplus surpassing 2 per cent for the first time in over a decade. Meanwhile, the government claims that debt indicators are improving and risks are decreasing.

There's hard proof in rebounding State Bank's reserves, enough to cover short-term imports, and the usual rupee's wild swings becoming moderate.

Inflation, once galloping above 20 per cent, has tumbled to manageable levels, at least according to newspaper head...