Islamabad, Aug 7 (IANS): It would be naive to assume that Pakistan will remain immune as the global economic sentiment sours, said a leading daily.

An editorial in the Dawn Sunday said that for some time it seemed the world was rebounding from the financial crisis of 2008, "but this past week showed how far off recovery really is".

America's Dow Jones index saw its biggest point fall in a week since October 2008. Other international markets sank, and global equities lost $2.5 trillion as investors grew concerned about the slowing down of the US economy and debt crises in Italy and Spain.

The editorial said that the "hangover of the financial crisis lingers three years later, and the rest of the world cannot remain insulated from slow growth and fiscal crisis in developed markets or from the perception that western governments are failing to respond effectively".

It went on to say that Pakistan's stock market is thought to act largely independently of global events, but "it has not remained unaffected".

On Friday, the Karachi Stock Exchange fell 471 points, one of its largest percentage drops in recent years.

"As global economic sentiment sours, it would be naive to assume that Pakistan will remain immune," the editorial said.