THE high level meeting that President Asif Ali Zardari chaired on Thursday highlighted national consensus on emerging challenges and how best to overcome them. The meeting attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, CDF/COAS Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, senior cabinet members and officials dealing with economic matters reviewed the evolving economic and energy situation against the backdrop of oil supply constraints, rising petroleum prices and regional security developments agreed that economic management, energy planning, food security and wider security considerations must remain closely aligned to address the challenges ahead.
It is a matter of satisfaction that the national leadership is working on two-fronts – diplomatic efforts to help bring the regional crisis to an end and a wide range of measures to minimize the impact of the evolving situation on the people of Pakistan and economy of the country. Timely initiatives on both fronts are producing positive results but it is quite obvious that the country has a limited leverage to influence the outcome, therefore, we will have to remain fully prepared for any eventuality and that is what the leadership is doing. The meeting underscored the importance of maintaining national consensus and strengthening institutional coordination, emphasizing that policy decisions must prioritize stability while safeguarding public interests. The participants rightly emphasized the need for public awareness campaigns to reduce fuel consumption, encourage the use of public transport and promote shared ride systems. However, in view of the fact that Pakistan is situated in a turbulent region and surrounded by hostile forces there is also a need for long-term planning besides the short-term measures being envisaged to tackle the situation.
The focus should, therefore, be on generation of electricity through cheaper and renewable sources; solarization of homes, offices and industry and promotion of electrical vehicles on a priority basis to save precious foreign exchange. Pakistan was quick in ensuring proper supply of oil despite closure of Strait of Hormuz and according to latest reports it has secured supply for April. However, it is also a fact that the prices of oil have jumped significantly with serious implications for the scarce foreign exchange reserves, trade deficit and inflation. There are also concerns that rising freight costs, war risk premiums and disrupted shipping routes could significantly weaken Pakistan’s export competitiveness, particularly in the textile sector, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of total exports. In case, the war prolonged it will also likely to affect negatively the remittances by overseas Pakistanis currently working in Gulf countries. Out of box solutions will have to be found of these and similar other problems after consultations with all stakeholders.
