The country’s large scale manufacturing (LSM) sector has witnessed growth of 4.7 per cent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) of the LSM industries was recorded at 133.88 points during July-March 2015-16 against 127.87 points during the same period of last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The highest growth of 2.96 per cent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Ministry of Industries followed by 1.48 per cent increase in the indices of the Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS) while the indices of the Oil Companies’ Advisory Committee (OCAC) increased by 0.26 per cent.
On year-to-year basis, the industrial growth increased by 6.75 per cent during March 2016 as compared to the same month of last year, while on month-to-month basis, the industrial growth decreased by 6.34 per cent during March 2016, when compared to growth of February 2016, the data detailed.
Meanwhile, the major sectors that showed growth during July-March (2015-16) included textile (0.62 per cent), coke and petroleum products (2.4 per cent), pharmaceuticals (7.2 per cent), chemicals (10.01 per cent), non metallic mineral products (10.23 per cent), automobiles (23.43 per cent), fertilisers (15.92 per cent), leather products (12.18 per cent) and rubber products (11.68 per cent).
On the other hand, the LSM industries that witnessed negative growth, included iron and steel products (7.48 per cent), electronics (9.98 per cent), paper and board (2.9 per cent), engineering products (17.64 per cent) and wood products (58.03 per cent).
The provisional QIM is being computed on the basis of latest production data of 112 items received from sources, including the Oil Companies’ Advisory Committee (OCAC), Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) and Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBoS).
The OCAC provides data of 11 items, MoIP of 36 items while PBoS provides data of the remaining 65 items.