A prominent business leader today warned that Pakistan’s export volumes are under severe threat from uncompetitive energy tariffs, potentially undermining a historic resurgence in domestic industrial activity and stock market confidence.
Mian Zahid Hussain, President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, cautioned that while textile exports nominally reached $17.85 billion in 2025, the sector is experiencing a “volume crisis” where the physical quantity of goods sold is stagnating or declining. He stated that this issue is compounded by an alarming 20.4 percent year-on-year drop in merchandise exports recorded in December.
The veteran industrialist pointed out that Pakistani exporters are paying industrial power tariffs of nearly 12 cents per unit. This rate is significantly higher than the 5-9 cents per unit in competitor nations such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, effectively handing over Pakistan’s global market share to regional rivals.
Despite these export challenges, Hussain acknowledged the country”s remarkable domestic economic performance. He welcomed the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s robust “V-shaped” recovery, which saw the KSE-100 index regain over 1,500 points to close at 183,951. He noted that trading volumes exceeding one billion shares prove that investor trust in the government’s macro-stabilization measures is deep-rooted.
Furthermore, he highlighted an 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 automobile sector”s performance a “success story,” citing a 56 percent surge in car production and a massive 89 percent increase in truck and bus manufacturing, attributing this to improved supply chains and an effective import substitution policy.
To protect the country’s economic gains, Mian Zahid Hussain urged the government to urgently implement the recommendations of the Uraan Pakistan roadmap by rationalizing 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 subsidize other consumers.
He concluded that the government must pivot from a strategy of stabilization 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.