'Eat chicken if pulses are dearer'

Islamabad, June 19: If Pakistanis feel pulses are too costly, they must consume chicken instead, a cabinet minister has said. “Tell your voters to eat chicken if they say Daal Mash is (costing) Rs 260 a kg,” Fince Minister Ishaq Dar told opposition members on Saturday. “Chicken is available for Rs 200 a kg,” The News Intertiol on Sunday quoted him as saying. The opposition had raked up the issue of rising prices of pulses. Dar said the present government had reduced the fiscal deficit by half from 8.8 per cent to 4.3 per cent. Apart from this, development expenditure had been doubled while allocations for the social safety nets had been enhanced three times. He said: “We are trying to reduce dependence on loans.” (IANS)