"If the people have no bread why don't they eat cakes?"

"OK, those famous words were said by the French Queen Marie Antoinette who was beheaded mercilessly with of course the King..."

"Excuse me, but if your reference is to The Khan and his Third Wife then I will take strong exception..."

"For Pete's sake no it isn't. Our Khan is not...not..."

"King Khan? Speaking of King Khan he too has been silenced with his son thrown in jail, and denied bail."

"That case reminds me of our Rana sahib who was also in jail, denied bail for a while, for narcotics found in the trunk of his car but which the then head honcho and the current head of the Kashmir committee and minister of state for SAFRON Sheharyar Afridi..."

"Don't get side tracked. Anyway I thought Reza Baqir, Governor State Bank made a Marie Antoinette type of comment. He told British Pakistanis that the rupee erosion will mean more rupees per pound..."

"But the purchasing power of the rupee is eroding domestically and so what one pound at the rate of 208 rupees bought in May 2021 buys perhaps less in October 2021 at the rate of 272 rupees per pound because of ensuing inflation. That's a technically flawed argument...so how is it a Marie Antoinette comment? She exhibited extreme insensitivity towards the French people and...oh I see what you mean - Baqir exhibited the same insensitivity towards resident Pakistanis."

"Yes and what baffles me is that even if we discount inflation and take his logic as correct from an economic perspective then how does he explain the fact that if each pound brings in more rupees then the overseas Pakistanis would need less money to remit to ensure that their families back home enjoy the same quality of life..."

"So remittances may decline, hunh!"

"Hunh is all I can say."

"Don't be facetious - that's the problem with The Khan's selections - even those with the relevant academic credentials come up with statements that force us to challenge those very credentials."

"Hunh."

"I guess that says it all."

Overseas Pakistanis have benefitted from rupee depreciation: Dr Reza Baqir

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021