If you look at the data available, Pakistanis should really be very poor. The country's per capita income, the depreciating value of its currency, the inflation rate, would make anyone think that thousands of Pakistanis should by dying of hunger every day. But that isn't happening. On the contrary, if you visit any restaurant any day in Karachi, you can't help being surprised at the number of people eating out. And mind you, this is happening all over the city, even in poor localities like Korangi, where the income level is not as high as in the posh areas of the city.
That's not all. Every year, about three million Pakistanis visit Saudi Arabia, compared to only three hundred thousand Bangladeshis going to the holy land. Then there are those who give at least three million rupees to agents for getting a visa to the UK, USA or Canada.
What about the exponential rise in property prices? How are so many Pakistanis able to buy expensive houses if they are poor? Something definitely is missing in the data available. Another mystery is that only a couple of million Pakistanis pay income tax, yet so many million travel abroad every year (even though air travel is so expensive).
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