Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry has received flak and ridicule over his recent comments equating increase in tourism at the popular tourist spot of Murree to economic prosperity.
In a tweet, Fawad said that a significant number of tourists had entered the popular hill station of Murree due to which hotel owners had increased their rents. He said the increase in tourism indicated an increase in prosperity and income of the common man. He added that one hundred big companies had made a profit of close to one trillion rupees this year.
The tweet was criticized on social media with many pointing out the actual economic conditions and the state of inflation in the country. A user sarcastically said that one lakh cars were indicative of the prosperity of 200 million people and that 100 big companies earning profit meant that inflation no longer remained in the country.
A broadcast journalist chimed in saying that with one lakh cars entering Murree, Pakistan’s economy had surpassed that of the US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK. Speaking sarcastically, he added that the government had fulfilled its promises of creating 10 million jobs, and of building five million houses and 400 dams.
International journalist Aneela Khalid said that according to her, the country had gone back in time when the rich segments of society had an abundance of money while the masses had gone deeper into poverty.
Another journalist specializing in economics and business said that people’s visit to Murree was not an accurate indicator of economic prosperity in the country nor did it depict the actual purchasing power of the masses.
Another user said that the government would use anything other than actual economic indicators to describe the conditions of the country except actual economic indicators.
