Early to bed, early to rise?

EDITORIAL: It’s appreciated that President Arif Alvi put the interests of the country ahead of his party’s strategy to undermine all the government’s initiatives to force it on the back foot and put his weight behind the official initiative to save energy by advocating early closure of markets and businesses to “conserve precious natural resources and divert them for the welfare and prosperity of the people”.

There’s no doubt that the federal government’s plan to cut down on working hours is a desperate bid to reduce use of national resources and prevent an outright collapse of the economy, which also explains why the president wished to help by giving the exercise a realistic religious touch as well, explaining how “Islamic teachings stressed the conservation of resources even if there was an abundance of them”.

Yet it’s also painfully true that this plan will not be worth more than the paper it is written on if provincial governments do not play along. And their cooperation, in turn, depends on how readily businesses and industry accept this austerity drive, which is sure to compromise their profits.

That is why it is a little worrying, though not very surprising, that a big part of the business community is not being very flexible so far. Karachi’s private sector stakeholders, for example, have already expressed “strong reservations” despite a three-hour effort by the provincial PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) government to bring them on board.

Owners of wedding halls, especially, are dead against shutting down by 10pm in what is, after all, peak earning season for them. They, like other sectors, have asked the government to trim working hours in banks and government offices instead, which are not dependent on or influenced by seasonal demand-supply dynamics.

Their concerns are understandable, no doubt, and it is basic business sense to expand activity in peak season. But this way all sectors, without exception, will present their own concerns and opt out of the energy conservation drive one by one. And that will only accelerate the economic downturn and make everybody suffer more.

These are times when all segments of society and sectors of industry will have to chip in for the greater good. Provincial governments are trying their best to sweet talk all stakeholders into playing their part by promising all sorts of compensation.

But time is of the essence so it would help if they can quantify the benefits they will offer in return for this extraordinary national duty. Businesses, too, must realise that they have to hop onto this bandwagon immediately for it to make any difference. Because the more time is lost, the more pounds of flesh they will have to eventually contribute.

The federal government rolled out its National Energy Conservation Plan last week, citing the principle of “early to bed, early to rise” to urge the nation to “save daylight hours and expect billions in savings”. The plan also outlines measures to phase out use of inefficient electricity and gas appliances to prevent unnecessary losses in future.

These are steps that should have been taken a long time ago and should be kept in place once the pressing emergency is hopefully handled. At stake is the survival of the economy and the country itself. For, never before has Pakistan come this close to sovereign default.

And if the nation does not willingly swallow this bitter pill right now and take a cutback on work and profits, it will be forced to gulp much harsher conditionalities in the very near future.

Things will definitely get much worse before they get any better. And right now the situation dictates doing whatever is necessary to make sure it eventually gets better, not any worse in the long run.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023