<b>Industrial sectorâs output falls 8.19pc</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
ISLAMABAD : <b>The large-scale industrial sector witnessed over 8.19 per cent decline in the fiscal year 2008-09 over the previous year,</b> according to Statistics Division data on Tuesday.
The sluggish growth in the sector is believed to be the outcome of deterioration which started some two years ago.
It was the worst performance of the sector for more than a decade, sources said.
A senior official told Dawn on Tuesday that energy shortage, tight or lack of financing, rising cost of doing business had hampered competitiveness of the locally manufactured products.
Although the government has allocated more than Rs80 billion subsidies for the textile and clothing sector under the textile policy, the policy is yet to be implemented.
The sluggish growth of the sector is clear from the fact that exports of textile and clothing sector witnessed more than nine per cent decline during the period under review.
According to the official, bad macro-economic indicators have further worsened the problem of the ailing industries. Over 25 per cent inflation, political instability, security threats and inefficient economic management of the government further added to the problems.
<b>Pakistanâs industrial policy is hovering around four industries âauto, sugar, textile and cement. All these industries reached the saturation point while the government is still pouring in taxpayersâ money in such sectors.</b>
Data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics showed that production of cotton yarn declined by 0.04pc, power-looms by 30.6pc during the year 2008-09 over last year. However, cotton cloth growth recorded a marginal increase of 0.05 per cent during the year under review.
Among electrical appliances production, refrigerators recorded a negative growth of 7.05pc, deep-freezers 9.32pc, air-conditioners 52.99pc, bulbs 30.22pc, tubes 42.82pc, motors 14.53pc, meters 14pc, switch-gears 27.75pc, transformers 20.82pc, TV sets 44.90pc and bicycles 20.03pc during the period under review.
However, production of fans was up by 2.30 per cent in 2008-09 over last year. Pig iron production declined by 20.37pc, billets 32.38pc and HR sheet by 30.96pc during the year under review over last year. However, Pakistan Steel coke witnessed a hefty growth of 45.62pc during the period under review.
The production of vegetable ghee dipped by 7.30pc in 2008-09 over previous year. However, cooking oil production was up marginally 0.34pc during the period under review over last year.
In automobile sector, production of buses declined by 42.62pc, jeeps and cars by 48.74pc and motorcycles 13.77pc, respectively, during the period under review.
As these sectors and associated vendors provide scores of jobs, there are fears that if industries close down, it may lead to massive layoffs.
Industrial growth has been shrinking for the last three years as it grew by 5.4 per cent in the year 2007-08 down from 19.9pc growth recorded in the year 2004-05 owing to capacity constraints and high cost of doing business that resulted into closure of many units
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