Have less tea: Pakistan minister has a solution to economic crisis

Social media users in Pakistan have taken their country’s planning minister, Ahsan Iqbal, to task for making “ridiculous” claims and strangely relating the import of tea to Pakistan’s present economic crisis.

Iqbal said in a video, which has now gone viral, that the people of Pakistan should reduce tea consumption by a cup or two to help the country tide over the present economic crisis. Iqbal contended that Pakistan imports tea for which it has to borrow money. He suggested that people should avoid consuming tea until the country becomes independent in tea production. In fact, Iqbal said, people should avoid all items that are not produced in Pakistan.

Pakistanis expressed surprise at the minister’s argument. One user said: “Our chai wala isn’t picking his phone Ughh explain this Ahsan iqbal what have you done to him?”

As per media reports, Pakistan’s tea consumption was around ₹83.88 billion in 2021-22. The local media in Pakistan reported that the country brought tea worth ₹13 billion more than the last financial year. A year before, the country spent ₹70.82 billion to buy tea from the outside world.

https://twitter.com/saadjamil36/status/1536744528618885122

Pakistan is going through one of its worst financial crisis. The country’s cabinet, in May, put a ban on the import of some 40 items for a limited period of time to halt a possible default. However, the step hasn’t helped much as the effect on import expenses would be just around $600 million, which is less than 5% of total imports.

As a consequence of the ban on certain imports, Pakistanis are now deprived of imported cars, phones, cosmetics, cigarettes, etc.