Pak Suzuki Motors will shut down its automobile plant for nearly a week owing to inventory shortfall as the commercial banks continue to stonewall the importers’ requests for opening letters of credit (LCs) due to a tight forex position.
The dollar shortage has hit import-based businesses hard as the government faces an uphill task in convincing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive a suspended loan programme. The revival of IMF’s extended funding facility will help Pakistan shore up its depleting forex reserves, which stand at an alarming level of around $3 billion — enough for just three weeks’ worth of imports.
In a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the company mentioned that “due to continued shortage of inventory level, the management of the company has decided to shut-down automobile plant from February 13, 2023 to February 17, 2023”.
However, the Japanese carmaker’s Pakistani arm — one of the country’s largest car manufacturers — noted that the motorcycle plant would remain operative.
It is the fourth consecutive announcement by the company of keeping brakes at its production activities in 2023 — first from January 2 to January 6, then from January 9 to January 13, and later on from January 16 to January 20.
More to follow…
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