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Alongside are the excerpts from the key-note address that the writer delivered at Lahore School of Economics last month. Manufacturing's share in GDP increased from about 8 percent in 1950 to about 18 percent by 1995 and has hovered around that for the last twenty years. The composition of manufacturing sector has also remained largely unaltered with Textiles and Food and Beverages accounting for almost half of the production. Manufactured exports have been dominated by cotton textiles while the world demand pattern is shifting away to more dynamic sectors. Even within textiles Pakistan has lost market shares to regional competitors such as China, India and Bangladesh. Employment in manufacturing has not kept pace with the increase in labor supply. Investment in manufacturing sector has in fact declined from 27 percent in 2002 to 15 percent in 2010. The Philippines, which until 1985, had a lower level of manufactured exports than Pakistan was able to increase the volume of manufactured exports ten times during one decade and has been expanding rapidly since then. Bangladesh that has only $3 billion of readymade garment exports in 2003 - the same as Pakistan has crossed $25 billion while we are still struggling in the range of $2 billion.

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Business recorder

Publication Date

4-12-2015

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1-5

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