Why is Pakistan asking its citizens to drink less tea?

Seems like the only way Pakistan can now save its economy is by drinking less tea.'I appeal to the nation to reduce tea intake by one or two cups daily because we borrow money for tea import as well,”  Pakistan's Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal said.

via GIPHY

Currently Pakistan is the world’s largest importer of tea. As of 2021, the country bought more than US $600 million worth tea.

Check out this video of Iqbal appealing to the citizens of Pakistan to cut down their consumption of tea:

Iqbal also suggested that traders should close their shops by 8:30pm to save electricity. Pakistan is currently suffering through a massive economic crisis and its foreign currency reserves continue to fall.

HY: In February 2022, Pakistan held US $16 billion as its foreign exchange reserve but in June 2022, the country’s foreign exchange reserve fell to less than US $10 billion.

At this rate, Pakistan will only be able to cover the cost of imports only for 2 months.

This economic crisis comes at the beginning of Shehbaz Sharif’s term as Pakistan’s Prime Minister, after ex-Prime Minister, Imran Khan was replaced after a parliamentary vote in April 2022.

To stabilize the reserves and strengthen the economy, the country has also limited the imports of non-essential luxury items and in May 2022, banned the import of 41 items for 2 months.

Last week, the Pakistani government released a new US $47 billion budget to convince the International Monetary Fund to restart its currently paused US $6 billion bailout programme. The IMF had agreed to the bailout programme in 2019.