Aziz government's swift moves to arrest the unbridled hike in the prices of some essential items, including cement, sugar and LPG, have proved one thing at least that the top leaders have somehow managed to strike a balance between the government and private sector aimed at facilitating the common man to lead the life of honour and comfort.
The combination formula, unique in the sense that it has been experimented successfully only in Pakistan, has worked well to the satisfaction of all the key contributors of our national economy and, above all, to the benefit, albeit partial, of the vast majority of Pakistanis. The formula is based on the priorities and preferences of the Aziz regime as spelt out in President Pervez Musharraf's reforms that have practically resulted in economic turnaround barely experienced in the recent or distant past.
The main focus of these reforms has, throughout, been creating an atmosphere conducive to the growth of private sector through policies that repose confidence and trust in the business and industrial community. Right from day one, it was the top priority of the present government to promote a friendly environment not rhetorically but practically with measures like abandonment of coercive revenue generation regime.
Stress was in fact laid on lesser government with all the top policy-makers and their advisors leaving no stone unturned in reducing the role of the government to that of a mere facilitator. The idea was - and still is - 'greater government is a curse'. For sure, the government has been doing its best to ensure lesser government and deregulation of economy.
Eminent economists are of the view that deregulation of economy ultimately leads to establishment of consumer economy by making the private sector responsive to the consumer in a confidence-building manner that is possible only with lesser and lesser intervention from the state machinery. But throughout this entire process that has yielded beneficial results from all angles, the government especially the top guns have not overlooked the negative tendencies that could possibly emerge from massive deregulation.
It is somewhat peculiar to our own environment, the 'un-monitored' segments of economy - and even polity - usually taking to a capricious course that seldom caters to the 'capacity limits' or 'purchasing power limits' of the ordinary consumer belonging to the low-income groups.
It is this area that does require some kind of government help. But this help becomes ineffective if the government fails to adopt a persuasive or motivational approach or saying it the other way round, if the government fails in winning the confidence and thus the cooperation of business and industrial community. Yes, of course, in the absence of a motivational approach as well as in the absence of government-business amity, there is strong likelihood of 'greater government menace' coming into play and subsequently leading to widening of mistrust between the government and the main contributors to the economy, namely the private enterprise.
And when that happens, it simply means further deterioration of the economy with little chances of prompt recovery. Aziz government, in the light of Musharraf's reforms, has quite skilfully worked out a middle-of-the-road strategy that neither offends the private entrepreneurs nor disappoints the ultimate destiny of economy ie the consumer.
In order to do this, the government has made use of its clout in the private enterprise, the same clout that has emanated from government's pragmatic and well-thought-out moves to rejuvenate the private sector and assume the role of a key player in national growth as well as in the employment sector. Resultantly, the things have improved to the benefit of common man as also evidenced from Aziz government's success in handling the crises surrounding the prices of cement, sugar and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The government, instead of using its 'regulation levers' or its political power, carried out research to gather data from various sources that revealed that the shortage of some essential items and the concomitant price hike was not merely caused by the supply and demand factor.
Instead, the cartelization factor had played the main role in bringing about shortage and price hike. In plain words, we can describe this phenomenon as artificial price hike stage-managed with the help of some old devices that would be usually relied upon by business cliques and monopolies to make gains even at the cost of consumers' comfort.
Aziz government has conducted the affairs quite energetically, intelligently and timely to enable the commoner to purchase some essential commodities within a reasonable limit. The latest sale price of LPG now stands additionally reduced by Rs 70 to 75 per cylinder. Now a 11.8 kg LPG cylinder would be sold to the consumers for Rs 475 to Rs 480 instead of the old price of Rs 550.
The decision to this effect has been taken collectively by four local liquefied gas companies in Karachi. Even the prices of cement and sugar have been rationalised. The recent development, that of rationalisation (rather reduction) of the cement prices through government-manufacturers' negotiations, is also commendable.
More gratifying is the fact that the government is monitoring the whole situation on a constant footing so that the relief does not remain transitory. The programme this time is to achieve the target of establishing what Prime Minister's Economic Advisor Dr Salman Shah calls the 'consumer economy'.
The consumer economy is now an established reality that no cartel can easily wish away. Islamabad government has acted like an intelligent co-ordinator and mediator that has not only energised all the pivotal sectors but also fused them together to play a nationalistic role in nation-building and in building a prosperous Pakistan, free from exploitation of the commoners at the hands of the cartels intoxicated with immense capital at their disposal. In a way, the government is not only handling things with a 'lesser government' approach but is also taking care of the fact that the government need not play a silent spectator where the genuine, basic interests of the general citizenry are compromised.