Big industry expands in August after 11 months

Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) registered year-on-year growth of 2.52 per cent in August, reversing the trend after 11 consecutive months of contraction, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday. On month-on-month, it witnessed a growth of 8.44pc. This indicates a resurgence in industrial production, a development that followed the easing of opening letters of credit (LCs) starting from July 1. The LSM expansion can primarily be attributed to an increase in production within the garments sector, followed by food, petroleum products and pharmaceutical products. In a concerning trend, the production of LSM has experienced negative growth since August 2022. In FY23, the LSM shrank by 10.26 year-on-year. In FY22, the LSM expanded by 11.7pc year-on-year. The production estimate for LSM industries was made using the new base year of 2015-16. The LSM is recovering from the slump. Although LSM remained positive in August, 10 out of 22 sectors picked up positive growth including food (7.95pc), wearing apparel (41.21pc), pharmaceuticals (41.81pc), petroleum products (30.81pc), non-metallic mineral products (11.98pc), machinery and equipment (14.61pc), football (27.90pc). The better inputs situation through the lifting of import restrictions paves the way for sectoral growth, said the Finance Ministry in its economic update and outlook for September.