No growth

The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector posted a 2.3 percent decline in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, as industrial output continued to scale down on growing cost of production. It merits a mention that the National Economic Council set a highly ambitious target of 8.1 percent for the LSM sector, which accounts for 80 percent of the industry, for the current fiscal year. In the previous year too, the sector grew 5.38 percent, much below the annual target of 6.3 percent.

There is a strong need to not only put an end to the declining trend in the industrial output in the country, but also to reinvigorate efforts for increasing industrial output which will pave the way for higher exports that will help the country earn the much-needed foreign exchange.

Khan Faraz

Peshawar