Islamabad (AFP) – Pakistan business chiefs are clamouring for the cash-strapped government to allow manufacturing materials stuck at the key port of Karachi into the country, warning that a failure to lift a ban on imports will leave millions jobless.
Faced with critically low US-dollar reserves, the government has banned all but essential food and medicine imports until a lifeline bailout is agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Industries such as steel, textiles and pharmaceuticals are barely functioning, forcing thousands of factories to close and deepening unemployment.
The steel industry has warned of severe supply-chain issues caused by a shortage of scrap metal, which is melted down and turned into steel bars. In the past few weeks, the bars have reached record prices.
"We directly feed materials to the construction industry which is linked to some 45 downstream industries," said Wajid Bukhari, head of Pakistan's Large Scale Steel Producers Association.
"This whole cycle is going to be jammed."
Smaller factories have already shut after exhausting stocks, while some larger plants are just days from closing, he said.
With an import bill of around $150 million a month, the steel industry says its operations directly and indirectly affect several million jobs.
Latest data from the central bank said foreign exchange reserves had plunged to just $2.9 billion -- enough for less than three weeks of imports.
"This situation triggers fears the construction...
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