Decline in the growth of large scale manufacturing by 1.5 percent was a result of tight monetary policy and maintaining high markup rates.

Pakistan’s economy was already facing serious economic challenges and under these circumstance growth oriented measures were required to be taken to pull the ailing economy out of trouble waters, thus for encouraging Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) markup rates, should be brought down Mahfooz Elahi, President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has said, addressing a delegation of industrialists at ICCI.

The State Bank of Pakistan policy of keeping the interest rates at higher level was a discouraging factor of local investments and a cause of increasing unemployment, he said. 

President of ICCI urged that SBP should cut the discount rate to provide relief to industry that was facing various problems due to increase in cost of doing business. Manufacturing sector should be given priority and special attention for its survival and sustainable growth, he added.

The large-scale manufacturing remained sluggish due to high interest rates and dampening hopes of meeting the annual target of 5.6 percent set for the manufacturing sector.

Elahi stressed that government should announce comprehensive policy and relief packages to industrial sector for its revival and to improve the over all growth performance of manufacturing sector, large-scale in particular and small scale in general. He said that manufacturing sector is bearing the brunt of the high interest rate and called upon the government to for taking measures to give a boost to LSM and SME growth.

President was of the opinion that Pakistan along with the agriculture sector, attention must be given to manufacturing, especially engineering sector should be focused that would ultimately lead it towards economic progress. He said government should provide support for the establishment of engineering related industries and help the businessmen in taking part in international engineering exhibition to provide them the opportunity to know internal emerging markets of engineering products and its potential.

He said to achieve these objectives, State Bank of Pakistan and other public sector organizations in consultation with the private sector should develop a national plan for industrial growth.