WATCH: After tomato gaffe, PTI leader claims ‘rise in dollar rate would benefit Pakistan’

Shaukat Yousafzai says people are unaware of the facts and expected advantages that will be seen in the long run


News Desk November 27, 2019
Shaukat Yousafzai says people are unaware of the facts and expected advantages that will be seen in the long run. PHOTO: PTI

After the 'smart' advice for fighting record-breaking hike in tomato prices in the country, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai again 'landed in hot waters' on Thursday for commenting that the "increase in dollar rate would ultimately benefit Pakistan".

He can be heard in a short video clip — making rounds on social media — in which he says that people are complaining about the increase in the dollar rates although the surge would benefit the country in the long run.

Without referring to any specific foreign transaction or borrowing, the minister says: “We have an edge over the rising dollar rate [in the country] because its cost has increased by Rs3 billion and we can save up to Rs3.75 billion since Pakistan has to pay back in rupees, not in dollars... therefore, we have to spend nothing from our pockets.”

While talking about the common people's 'shallow' knowledge about one of the world's strongest currencies, the K-P information minister also says, “People are whining about the surge in dollar rates because they are unaware of the facts and expected advantages that will be seen in the long run.”

‘Use yogurt instead of costly tomatoes’, PTI leader advises people

However, in principle, the dollar rate increase leads to escalate relative prices of almost all domestic goods and services.

Last week, Yousafzai had suggested an ingenious way to bring down skyrocketing prices of tomatoes, which recently crossed Rs350 per kg in the local market almost across the country.

He advised the masses to stop buying the costly commodity altogether and use yogurt as its replacement in their daily meals.

COMMENTS (1)

John Chaudry. | 4 years ago | Reply We love people like Yousafzai. He has no idea. Very ordinary individual from Swat. But he reckons he is an expert on everything.
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