KARACHI: President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Chairman of the National Business Group Pakistan and Chairman of the FPCCI Policy Advisory Board, Mian Zahid Hussain said that the government should avoid adopting a ‘One-size-fits-All’ industrial policy and instead pursue a targeted sector-wise promotional strategy.
Textile exporters should be provided with reliable electricity and gas at competitive rates, availability of raw materials, faster refunds and easier access to working capital, he said.
The pharmaceutical industry requires continuous availability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and other imported inputs, while the steel sector needs immediate measures to address energy, financing and raw-material constraints, he said.
He said that the 9.51 percent month-on-month improvement in July compared with June is certainly a positive signal, but one month of improvement cannot be considered evidence of a sustainable industrial recovery.
The government should identify the actual bottlenecks through sector-specific data and adopt targeted corrective measures. Sustainable industrial growth will only be possible when recovery extends beyond a few industries and reaches the country’s major export-oriented and employment-generating Sectors.
Hussain said that despite positive results in a few sectors, the situation remains worrying in several sectors that are critical for employment, exports and domestic industrial supply chains. Overall, textile production declined by 3.09 percent, pharmaceuticals by 20.79 percent, and iron and steel products by 11.40 percent.
While garments recorded strong growth and cotton yarn increased marginally by 2.73 percent, industry stakeholders claim that misuse of the Export Facilitation Scheme has contributed to a noticeable decline in domestic cotton cloth (fabric) production, keeping overall textile output in negative territory. He said these figures indicate that different parts of the value chain are moving in opposite directions, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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