ISLAMABAD: The country’s large scale manufacturing sector witnessed 4.35 percent growth during first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year over a year ago.
According to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the LSM sector growth slightly decreased in February if compared with the growth of 5 percent in January this year. The LSM sector recorded 2.83 percent growth during month of February 2016 against the same month of last year. The government had set challenging growth target of 6 percent for LSM sector for the ongoing financial year.
The automobiles sector inched up by 27.67 percent during July-February period of the year 2015-16. The fertilizer sector’s growth was up by 16.05pc; chemicals industry’s growth surged by 11.26pc, coke and petroleum products 4.49pc percent, pharmaceuticals 7.04pc, non metallic mineral products 8.61 percent, rubber products 11.64 percent, and textile sector recorded growth of 0.8 percent during July-February period of the year 2015-16. Food, beverages and tobacco showed growth of 1 percent and leather products 11.51pc.
The sectors, which witnessed negative growths, included wood production that plunged by 54.28 percent, paper and board that declined 5.23pc, engineering sector that dropped 16.87pc and electronics that plummeted 8.4 percent during the period under review.
In automobile sector, trucks production went up by 44.23pc, buses 77.54pc, cars and jeeps 37.1pc and LCVs (light commercial vehicles) by 104.5pc. Production of motorcycles increased by 17.14pc during July-February period. However, tractors production fell by 44.65pc.
In electronics products, production of air-conditioners increased by 28.05pc, switch gears 28.14pc and storage batteries 2.39pc. However, the production of refrigerators declined by 1.56pc, electric-bulbs by 15.87pc, fans 10.6pc, motors 16.89pc, meters 26.39, and bicycles production went down by 6.2pc during the period under review.
