Engineering Post Report
One of the three key and important sectors of the national economy , Industrial Sector, failed to come up to the expectations and achieve the planned target and was hit the hardest with around 3 percent contraction during FY2023.
The industrial sector comprising four key sub-sectors i.e. manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, mining and quarrying and construction took the brunt of massive devastation caused by floods and rails in July 2022 and was contracted by 2.94 percent.
Most of the shrinkage , according to the information now available, was due to 8 per cent decline in large -scale manufacturing ,which fall under manufacturing and has the biggest share in the industrial sector., In contrast, large -scale manufacturing had registered growth rates of over 11 per cent during the past year.
However, the four sectors which showed growth included wearing apparel, leather products, furniture and sports goods such as football.
According to the experts, “The proliferation of risks including the global economic slow-down and flood damages, coupled with the restrictions imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan’s through its restrictive policies such as high-interest rates, import restrictions, and the closure of issuance of the Letters of Credit to correct the balance of payments and control inflation had created headwinds for businesses , consumer confidence and investment during the period under report”.
“Thus, the industry was weighed down by various domestic and external factors leading to a slowdown in its performance in FY2023”, they added. .The mining and quarrying sector remained negative at 4.4 percent during July-March against a dip of 7 percent last year, The development of the mining sector had been hindered by inadequate infrastructure, lacking technology and insufficient financial resources.
