LAHORE – Pakistan’s Finance Minister Asad Umar landed in troubled waters following online criticism over his incorrect claims on economic statistics on Saturday.
The minister faced severe backlash on Twitter and other social media platforms after he gave “misleading” figures of fiscal deficit and oil prices.
In a tweet, the finance minister claimed that the current account deficit of Pakistan declined by 900 million dollars last month, which is 72 per cent decline as compared to the same month last year.
The deficit came down to 356 million dollars against 1,280 million dollars last year, Asad Umar wrote in his tweet.
https://twitter.com/Asad_Umar/status/1106611106859175936
He claimed that oil price in February 2018 was 35 US dollars per barrel whereas the oil price in February 2019 was 67 US dollars.
The social media users posted an online chart to reveal the correct facts and figures pertaining to the oil prices, according to which the oil price in February 2018 was 63 US dollars per barrel, while in the same month in 2019 it cost 61 US dollar per barrel.
https://twitter.com/ilatif/status/1106636682160496642
Another social media user simply termed Asad’s stats as ‘misleading numbers’.
https://twitter.com/naqashsajid/status/1106615465881808896
