Human behaviour is driven by economic concern and I think the minister is correct since he is making economic argument
LAHORE: The country has been facing an unprecedented petrol shortage for the past one week. The anger of the people, quite justifiably, has been running high due to the difficulties they are facing. The wise men of the country unleash their wisdom both in the electronic and print media in an attempt to make sense of what caused the petrol crisis and the majority of these wise men have left no stone unturned while blaming Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the petroleum minister, for the petrol shortage in the country.
Like my countrymen, I, too, have been suffering because of the petrol shortage for a week and have been watching television to stay informed about it, as well as to know what really caused the petrol shortage. I think the petroleum minister made around a dozen appearances in various TV talk shows and replied to the questions of the critics with exemplary grace while being under tremendous pressure.
In my opinion, he appears to be winning the argument by saying that the petrol shortage was mainly caused by the sudden surge in demand by 25-30 per cent, which made it impossible to meet the supply targets in a short time, no matter how well organised the suppliers were. Human behaviour is driven by economic concerns and I think that the minister is correct because he is making an economic argument based on universally accepted economic principle of demand and supply, which states that other things remaining the same, if the price of a commodity is reduced, its demand will increase.
Ejaz Ahmad Magoon
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2015.
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