Key Issue in Pakistan Industry
Key Issues in Industry in Pakistan
The previous two chapters have given a chronological account of developments in the industrial sector in Pakistan, showing how perspectives of different regimes have influenced industrial and economic growth. This chapter looks at contemporary issues in the industrial sector, including privatization, the textile sector and a host of others. Many of the issues in the industrial sector today have their roots in policies adopted many years ago; so much so, that some analysts and experts blame the problems of today on key decisions of yesteryear.
8.1 Numbers and Trends in
Industry
The phenomenal growth rate experienced in the industrial sector in Pakistan in the early 1950s took place, from an almost non-existent base, where the growth rate of the industrial sector was doubling itself every few years. The extraordinary growth rates of over 20 per cent between
1950 and 1955 in large-scale manufacturing were achieved primarily because very little existed to start with and, hence, any investment and production, no matter how little, would register impressive gains. Only in the early 1960s did largescale manufacturing come close to the extraordinary period of the early and mid-1950s. Nevertheless, overall manufacturing did manage to produce a growth rate of close to 10 per cent on average throughout the 1960s (Table 8.1), followed by a substantial reduction in the 1970s, the reasons for which were discussed in the previous chapters. The 1980s once again saw a return to a very impressive annual average growth in manufacturing of 8.21 per cent, a fact which received much recognition by international agencies and independent analysts and scholars (see Chapter 7).
A trend which is striking for its monotony is that exhibited by the small-scale sector. The first few years, 1950 to 1962, show a consistent trend of 2.3 per cent annual growth, followed by a growth rate of 2.9 per cent over the next eight
years,
The previous two chapters have given a chronological account of developments in the industrial sector in Pakistan, showing how perspectives of different regimes have influenced industrial and economic growth. This chapter looks at contemporary issues in the industrial sector, including privatization, the textile sector and a host of others. Many of the issues in the industrial sector today have their roots in policies adopted many years ago; so much so, that some analysts and experts blame the problems of today on key decisions of yesteryear.
8.1 Numbers and Trends in
Industry
The phenomenal growth rate experienced in the industrial sector in Pakistan in the early 1950s took place, from an almost non-existent base, where the growth rate of the industrial sector was doubling itself every few years. The extraordinary growth rates of over 20 per cent between
1950 and 1955 in large-scale manufacturing were achieved primarily because very little existed to start with and, hence, any investment and production, no matter how little, would register impressive gains. Only in the early 1960s did largescale manufacturing come close to the extraordinary period of the early and mid-1950s. Nevertheless, overall manufacturing did manage to produce a growth rate of close to 10 per cent on average throughout the 1960s (Table 8.1), followed by a substantial reduction in the 1970s, the reasons for which were discussed in the previous chapters. The 1980s once again saw a return to a very impressive annual average growth in manufacturing of 8.21 per cent, a fact which received much recognition by international agencies and independent analysts and scholars (see Chapter 7).
A trend which is striking for its monotony is that exhibited by the small-scale sector. The first few years, 1950 to 1962, show a consistent trend of 2.3 per cent annual growth, followed by a growth rate of 2.9 per cent over the next eight
years,