AIRLINK 217.98 Decreased By ▼ -4.91 (-2.2%)
BOP 10.93 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.02%)
CNERGY 7.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.13%)
FCCL 34.83 Decreased By ▼ -2.24 (-6.04%)
FFL 19.32 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.42%)
FLYNG 25.15 Decreased By ▼ -1.89 (-6.99%)
HUBC 131.09 Decreased By ▼ -1.55 (-1.17%)
HUMNL 14.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-1.15%)
KEL 5.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-4.07%)
KOSM 7.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-1.6%)
MLCF 45.63 Decreased By ▼ -2.55 (-5.29%)
OGDC 222.08 Decreased By ▼ -1.18 (-0.53%)
PACE 8.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.24%)
PAEL 44.19 Increased By ▲ 0.69 (1.59%)
PIAHCLA 17.69 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-2.05%)
PIBTL 8.97 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.1%)
POWERPS 12.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.50 (-3.84%)
PPL 193.01 Decreased By ▼ -5.23 (-2.64%)
PRL 43.17 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (2.2%)
PTC 26.63 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-2.77%)
SEARL 107.08 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.73%)
SILK 1.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.89%)
SSGC 45.00 Decreased By ▼ -2.30 (-4.86%)
SYM 21.19 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (2.02%)
TELE 10.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-3.52%)
TPLP 14.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.44 (-2.94%)
TRG 67.28 Decreased By ▼ -1.57 (-2.28%)
WAVESAPP 11.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-5.29%)
WTL 1.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-5.03%)
YOUW 4.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.3%)
BR100 12,397 Increased By 33.3 (0.27%)
BR30 37,347 Decreased By -871.2 (-2.28%)
KSE100 117,587 Increased By 467.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 37,065 Increased By 128 (0.35%)

That there is a need for conserving energy is a fact, which cannot be overemphasised in view of a variety of highly plausible reasons. What’s wrong if all commercial activities in big and small cities are brought to a halt every day by sunset or one hour later. Not only will this help reduce consumption of electricity markedly, it will also help curtail use of petroleum and products.

The traders’ community, which is against early closure of markets, must not lose sight of the fact that we have already compromised national energy security due to a host of reasons, including our fast depleting foreign exchange reserves that we always need to buy oil and other items from global markets.

The situation requires all of us to tighten our belts. The government has to lead the nation in this regard. It must reduce its current expenditure in a meaningful manner to set a healthy precedent. Efforts must be made to attract FDI on a large scale.

Exports are needed to be boosted in order to fetch more foreign currency. Remittances, too, deserve attention. The government is required to pull its socks up without any loss of time. Last but not least, Punjab government deserves praise for embarking on an energy conservation plan in a big way. According to it, all businesses will remain closed on Sundays.

Ahmed Bashir (Lahore)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

Comments

Comments are closed.