Indus Motor closes manufacturing plant for 10 days

Indus Motor Company (IMC) has announced to shut down its manufacturing plant for 10 days due to the imposition of a ban on the imports of completely knocked down (CKD) kits by the central bank, ARY News reported on Monday.

The Indus Motor Company, the maker of Toyota vehicles, announced to shut down its manufacturing plant for 10 days from December 20 to 30.

It stated that the decision was taken after a ban on the imports of completely knocked down (CKD) kits by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

READ: IMPORT OF HOLY QURAN SUBJECTED TO NOC

The import restrictions increased difficulties of the automobile manufacturing due to a shortage of the raw material essential to run manufacturing plants on a daily basis.

On December 16, the central bank said Pakistan’s current account deficit has shrunk by over 50 per cent during the first five months of this fiscal year FY2022-23 from $0.57 billion in October to $0.28 billion in November 2022.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) statistics, the current account deficit shrank to $0.28 billion in November due to imports falling by $4.8 billion which is up to 16%, whereas, the exports broadly remained unchanged.

In Nov22, the current account deficit shrank to $0.28bn from $0.57bn in Oct22. Cumulatively, during Jul-Nov22 it has contracted by more than half to $3.1bn against $7.2bn in Jul-Nov21, with imports falling by $4.8bn (-16%) & exports broadly unchanged. Link https://t.co/q3LNv3HgLs pic.twitter.com/wJymqbJqdn

— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 16, 2022

The statement read, “Cumulatively, during Jul-Nov22 it has contracted by more than half to $3.1bn against $7.2bn in Jul-Nov21”

Industries are facing extreme difficulties due to the shortage of raw materials following the restrictions on imports by the federal government.

A few days ago, it was learnt that 150 textile mills shut down in the last five months due to the skyrocketing energy prices and unavailability of gas.

A total of 150 spinning and weaving textile mills in the country were closed in the last five months due to an increase in the energy crisis in Pakistan, which results in the unemployment of at least 2 million people.

The mill owners said that gas is not available to the industries, letters to credit (LCs) are not opening for import due to which raw materials are not available for the textile industry.