Pakistan
has urged its citizens to drink fewer cups of tea to keep the nation’s economy
afloat. The south Asian nation is battling a severe crunch in foreign exchange
reserves, and importing tea from other countries is becoming a major challenge.
Pakistan is the world’s largest importer of tea.

Ahsan
Iqbal, planning minister in Pakistan’s government, said sipping fewer cups of
tea will help cut high import bills. “I appeal to the nation to cut down the
consumption of tea by one or two cups because we import tea on loan,” Iqbal
said, speaking to Pakistani media.

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As
of today, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves are just enough to cover the
country of 242 million for only two months, reports the BBC. In May, the
Pakistan government slashed import of non-essential luxury goods in order to
save on money. Tea is one of Pakistan’s biggest expenses. The country imported
$600 million worth of tea in 2021.

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Iqbal
urged the Pakistani populace to cut down on drinking tea unless the nation is
able to produce enough tea domestically or till when the economic crisis is
over. Tea can be grown in 178,000 acres of land in Pakistan, government data
reported by Dawn show. While Pakistan imports of a lot of its tea, successive governments
have not paid attention to grow more tea domestically.

The
request to drink fewer cups of tea hasn’t gone down well with the Pakistani
people. Tea is a favourite in Pakistan and a government decree to consume less
is bound to create a certain degree of disenchantment against the newly-elected
Shehbaz Sharif government. Sharif became Pakistan’s prime minister after Imran
Khan was ousted through a no-confidence vote.

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Aside
from tea, the Pakistan government has also asked businesses to remain open for
fewer hours in order to save on electricity. Markets have been asked to close
down by 08:30 pm local time.

Pakistan’s
foreign exchange reserves dropped from nearly $16 billion in February this year
to nearly $10 billion in early June. The burgeoning economic crisis has turned
into a major test for the Shehbaz Sharif government. Last week, Sharif’s cabinet
launched a fresh $47 billion budget in a bid to convince the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) to restart a stalled $6 billion bailout programme.

Pakistan
reached a deal with the IMF in 2019 in a bid to find a solution to its low
foreign exchange reserves. The deal was paused as lenders questioned Pakistan’s
finances.