By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: It’s after 11 months the Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) recorded year-on-year growth of 2.52 per cent in August this year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data shows.
The large industry also witnessed a growth of 8.44pc on month-on-month basis, the data further shows. The growth follows revival of industrial production after easing of opening letters of credit (LCs) starting from July 1.
Garments, food, petroleum products and pharmaceutical products were the major sectors behind the growth in September.
The LSM production has experienced negative growth since August 2022 as in FY23, the LSM contracted by 10.26pc YoY while in FY22, the big industry expanded by 11.7pc YoY. The production estimate for LSM industries was made using the new base year of 2015-16.
As many 10 sectors registered growth in August. They were food (7.95pc), pharmaceuticals (41.81pc), petroleum products (30.81pc), wearing apparel (41.21pc) non-metallic mineral products (11.98pc), football (27.90pc), and machinery and equipment (14.61pc).
The textile sector’s production contracted 16.20pc in August over a year ago, while in the food group, wheat and rice production plunged by 0.51pc in August over the last year, the FBS data further reveals.
Meanwhile, The Pakistani rupee is continuing upward momentum against the US dollar in the interbank market today.
At around 10:37am, the local unit gained another 1.03 against the greenback and was trading at 275.80.
