Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced on Thursday that the government has imposed a ban on the import of all non-essential luxury items under an "emergency economic plan".
She made the announcement while addressing a press conference in Islamabad. Shortly after, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to Twitter to say that the decision would "save the country precious foreign exchange".
"We will practice austerity and financially stronger people must lead in this effort so that the less privileged among us do not have to bear this burden inflicted on them by the PTI government," he said.
The government's decision comes as the dollar has witnessed a meteoric rise against the rupee over the past few weeks on account of the country's rising import bill, growing current account deficit and depleting foreign exchange reserves. On Thursday, the dollar shattered all records and soared to Rs200 in the interbank market.
During her press conference, the information minister assured the nation that PM Shehbaz was "working day and night to stabilise the economy".
Aurangzeb said that in light of this, it was decided to impose a ban on the import of all non-essential luxury items. "These items are those which are not in use of the general public," she said as she identified imported vehicles as one such item.
Read more:
Marriyum says PM Shehbaz is working day and night to stabilise the economy; cars, mobile phones among banned items.
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