Islamabad: Pakistan is going through a financial crisis. Its foreign currency is depleting fast and one way to save precious foreign currency is to reduce the huge import bill. Ahsan Iqbal, a senior Pakistani minister, has urged the people to drink fewer cups of tea so that they can save forex reserves by reducing the import bills of tea.
These satirical comments went viral on social media and reflected the challenges faced by the country and its leadership. These statements throw the lights on the Pakistan forex reserves. The country's foreign exchange reserve decreased rapidly from around $16 billion in February to less than $10 billion in the first week of June and which is hardly enough to cover the cost of two months of all its imports. Buying more than $ 600 million worth of tea, Pakistan becomes one of the largest importers of tea in the world.
Iqbal says. “I appeal to the nation to cut down the consumption of tea by one to two cups because we import tea on loan. Moreover, there are several measures taken by the government to cut down the high import bills and save precious foreign currency. Businessmen were asked to shut down their shops by 8.30 pm to save power. The Sharif government has accused the Imran Khan government of mismanaging the economy. Country reveals that they are trying to convince the International Monetary Fund [IMF] to restart the $6 billion bailout program. This bailout program was paused in 2019 to ease the economic crisis of the nation
