ISLAMABAD -Federal Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi on Thursday said government is finalising a five-year industrial policy, which would be announced within the current year.
He said that industrial policy would be according to the aspirations of the industrial community. Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi said this while speaking to the business community at Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI).
The Minister said that an Rs18 billion bailout package has been approved for the Pakistan Steel Mills, which would help, increase production by seventy per cent in the next six months.
He said that Pakistan will start importing LNG from Qatar in ten months and the chronic energy crisis would be settled in four years paving way for the unprecedented industrial growth. Jatoi added the government has planned to establish one thousand additional utility stores among which two hundred and fifty would be opened in the province of Sindh.
He said that Pakistan wishes to enhance export volume up to $60 billion to stabilise economy for which increasing trade with neighbouring countries and an industrial revolution is imperative. “We are ready to work with the FPCCI for the revival of sick industrial units,” he underlined. Speaking on the occasion, acting president FPCCI Shaukat Ahmed said that industrial sector has been contributing 20.9 per cent of the GDP, providing job opportunities but it has been facing issues like law and order, incoherent policies, feeble infrastructure, and water as well as energy scarcity. He said that export processing zones are facing problems calling for attention by the government.