Pharmaceutical sector contracts by 5.38pc

LAHORE – Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector has contracted by 5.38 percent, putting a major portion of Pakistan’s non-agriculture workforce engaged with this sector under pressure.According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the large-scale manufacturing sector has shown the decline of 7.78 percent. The major decline has been observed in textile (-2.57 percent), food, beverage tobacco (-2.33 percent), coal petroleum products (-17.46 percent), pharmaceuticals (-5.38 percent), chemicals (-2.30 percent), automobiles (-36.50 percent), iron steel products (-7.96 percent), electronics (-13.54 percent), engineering products (-7.05 percent) and wood products (-22.11 percent). It is to be noted that the estimated size of informal employment in non-agriculture sector is around 27 million, with only food, pharmaceuticals, and few services still functional, these employees will be worst affected.According to HIES 2015-16, Pakistan has 1.93 average earners per household. “The government needs to support the pharmaceutical industry of the country in order to help the informal employment of the country while the national economy is also to get a huge push this way,” said a pharma manufacturer. He added that this industry is among the sunrise industries as per international organizations and it has a capacity to steer the national economy out of crisis.

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Article source: https://nation.com.pk/14-Jul-2020/pharmaceutical-sector-contracts-by-5-38pc