Big Industry Suffering.

The industrial sector of Pakistan is facing a huge blow due to the lapsing economy. While the government has managed to bring down the trade deficit by 35 percent, the impact on the local economy is great. With rising prices and increasing scrutiny of local businesses, the environment does not support local market growth. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday that the LSM index dipped by 7.06 percent in the second month of this fiscal year from a year ago. The decrease in LSM was mainly led by a dip of 14pc in petroleum products, followed by 12.82pc in the automobile sector, 12.58pc in non-metallic minerals, 9.96pc in fertilisers, 9.81pc in pharmaceuticals, 5.63pc in chemicals, 5.43pc in engineering, 5.10pc in iron and steel and 0.08pc in the textile sector.

These are glaring numbers that highlight problems within the local businesses and also speak volumes regarding the lack of local business acumen in the current Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government. When the automobile industry started to show signs of distress, we put the blame on the rising automobile promises instead of recognising that the cost of production is going up in the market, whereas, revenue generation is decreasing across the board. The government needs to move swiftly in order to prevent further damage. A control on trade deficit should...

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