Bureau Report
KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has said the positive growth in large-scale manufacturing (LSM) will help achieve the annual economic growth target, besides creating jobs if the trend continues in coming months, as the LSM output has grown 7.65 percent in September, besides reporting growth of 4.8 percent in the first quarter of current fiscal year.
While addressing a delegation of various industrial sectors, who met him here in his office, FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar said that positive growth rate of the industry has given a ray of hope for the revival of economic activities in the country, fearing the data of Oct 2020 might be critical to sustain the momentum of industrial production during the second wave of pandemic in the country.
He said that in 2019-20, the LSM output had fallen alarmingly by 10.17 percent yearly. The industrial production after suffering months of damage inflicted by the corona pandemic mainly in the construction, sugar, automobile, and pharmaceutical sectors is now clearly reflecting a revival in economic activities in the country.
For the current fiscal year, the government had set the economic growth target at 2.1 percent, which will be better in the current economic situation but is not enough to create jobs for a growing population.
Mian Anjum Nisar said that remarkable decline in interest rates and reduction in duties on raw materials are expected to further spur economic activities in the current fiscal year, as manufacturing activity showed that more than half of the sub-sectors in the LSM rose in September. He said that the growth has now broken a cycle of constant contraction in past over one year. He said that large businesses had been bearing the brunt of very high interest rate, issues of the Federal Board of Revenue and high energy prices.
