Big industries turn around with 3.9% output growth

KARACHI: Pakistan’s big manufacturing industries including readymade garments, fertiliser and iron and steel have surprisingly turned around as their output grew 3.9% in August compared to July, ending a four-month downtrend.
Goods production by large industries, however, showed a small recovery of 0.6% in August when compared with the same month of last year. It came at a time when a number of industrial units were lying closed and others had reduced output in the wake of government’s measures to cool down the overheated economy.
“LSMI (Large-Scale Manufacturing Index) increased by 0.6% in August 2022 when compared with August 2021 and rose by 3.9% when compared with July 2022,” Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Wednesday.
However, in the first two months (Jul-Aug) of current fiscal year, the LSM output dropped by 0.4% year-on-year.
The monthly Quantum Index of Manufacturing (QIM) was calculated at 114.8 for August 2022. For Jul-Aug 2022, it stood at 112.6, according to the PBS. In Jul-Aug 2022, garments production grew by 5.3% year-on-year while iron and steel output rose by 0.5%. On the contrary, the production of petroleum products dropped by 1.2%, cement manufacturing fell by 2% and fertiliser output decreased by 0.2%.-Agencies