Chinese industries to relocate to Pak due to low cost

Beijing : Chinese industries are planning to relocate their labour-intensive industries like textiles to Pakistan to take advantage of reduced production costs. However, Pakistan may yet welcome some Chinese industries – and foreign investment from other global destinations – as Beijing is shifting its industrial units beyond borders to remove the “Made in China” label from many products to win back US markets, reported The Express Tribune. The study highlights hurdles in Pakistan like law and order, labour productivity as it has failed to woo Chinese industries and many Chinese industries have gone to Cambodia, Laos and even Ethiopia, though their cost of labour is higher than the cost in Pakistan and their markets are far smaller in terms of population. Pakistan Business Council (PBC) – a business policy advocacy platform – has published a detailed study titled “Catalysing Private Investment in Pakistan: Leveraging Chinese Investment in CPEC” in May 2022 to highlight the hurdles to foreign investment in Pakistan, reported The Express Tribune. The PBC study says it is aimed at providing guidance to policymakers on addressing the fundamental issues, which have resulted in low investment in Pakistan. It makes the comparison of key indicators with Pakistan’s peer economies and highlights the obstacles faced by Chinese investment under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework.