Mian Zahid Hussain, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum & All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Chairman National Business Group Pakistan, Chairman Policy Advisory Board FPCCI, and Former Provincial Minister Information Technology, said today that the country is witnessing a remarkable resurgence in domestic industrial activity and capital market confidence, but this momentum is at risk of being undermined by uncompetitive energy tariffs that are stifling export volumes. Speaking to the business community, he welcomed the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s robust “V-shaped” recovery, with the KSE-100 index regaining over 1,500 points to close at 183,951. He noted that this resilience, backed by trading volumes exceeding one billion shares, proves that investor trust in the government’s macro-stabilisation measures is deep-rooted.
Mian Zahid Hussain highlighted the impressive turnaround in Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM), which posted a growth of 5.02 percent in the first four months of the fiscal year. He termed the performance of the automobile sector as a “success story of the first half of the FY2026”, citing the 56 per cent surge in car production and a massive 89 per cent increase in truck and bus production. He attributed this success to improved supply chains and an effective import-substitution policy, which has encouraged consumers to buy locally manufactured goods. He stated that if the government can replicate the auto sector’s policy environment across other industries, Pakistan’s manufacturing base can expand rapidly.
However, the veteran business leader expressed serious reservations about the sustainability of exports amid skyrocketing energy costs. He pointed out that while textile exports nominally reached $17.85 billion in 2025, the sector is suffering from a “volume crisis,” with the physical volume of goods sold stagnant or declining. He warned that Pakistani exporters are currently paying industrial power tariffs of nearly 12 cents per unit, compared to 5-9 cents in competitor nations like Vietnam and Bangladesh. This disparity is effectively handing over Pakistan’s global market share to regional rivals, as reflected in the alarming 20.4 percent year-on-year drop in merchandise exports in December.
Mian Zahid Hussain urged the government to urgently implement the recommendations of the “Uraan Pakistan” roadmap by rationalising energy tariffs and removing cross-subsidies from industrial power bills. He argued that achieving the ambitious target of $60 billion in exports is impossible if the manufacturing sector continues to subsidise other consumers. He concluded that the government must pivot from a strategy of stabilisation to one of competitiveness, ensuring that the benefits of the stock market boom and industrial revival are translated into tangible export growth through affordable energy.
