The federal Minister for Industries and Production, Khusro Bakhtiar, has said that the local production of auto parts had reached 45 percent on account of the auto policy.
He stated this at a workshop on Industrial Policy that was held to encourage inter-ministerial consultation on the new industrial policy, and highlighted that Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) in Pakistan had reached a historic level. He detailed that it has grown by 12.2 percent during the current year and commended the role of the Department for International Development (DFID) in the growth of the national economy.
Minister Bakhtiar pointed out that the incumbent government had introduced the National Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Policy to promote small businesses in the industry. He also criticized the previous governments, saying that domestic industrial production is suffering because of the incoherent policies of corrupt governments.
He also pointed out that the share of industrial production in Pakistan’s GDP is only 14 percent while it should be 25 percent, given the growing population.
The minister opined that only industrial development will be able to provide employment opportunities to the youth.
He also mentioned that he is grateful to international development partners for formulating the industrial policy and added that it focuses on alternative production of imported goods and promotion of export industries.
The workshop was attended by the Minister for Finance, Shaukat Tareen, and the Advisor on Climate Change, Amin Aslam.
