Pakistan’s two leading car assemblers, Toyota and Suzuki, plan partial plant shutdowns next month due to unavailability of raw material amid import restrictions and exchange rate volatility. The freefalling of rupee has had a cascading effect on industries that rely on imports to complete finished goods as the central bank delayed clearance of letters of credit with banks facing a shortage of dollars, affecting their ability to import materials.
Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan (HACP) has decided to shut down its plant for 10 days as its inventories piled up to 2,000 units on plummeting car sales amid rising prices due to imposition of new, higher taxes in budget and steep currency devaluation in recent weeks. Extremely low car sales during first week of July has prompted the company’s decision.