Industrial Sector to maintain its growth momentum

Engineering Post Report

Industrial sector growth  had turned  positive after two consecutive  contractions  during 2018-19 and 2019-20, which was partly due to negative growth in Mining and Quarrying sub-sector.                                                                           

Newly introduced mining policy was expected to attract investment in the sector thereby helping in growth revival during financial year 2021-22.

Construction sub-sector  had benefitted from the government package  and grown by  8.3 per cent  during 2020-21. This momentum  was most likely to be continued during current financial year 2021-22, according to the official sources concerned. Extension of support package  for Naya Pakistan Housing initiative and higher  in the Public Sector Development Programme , more than Rs 2 trillion  worth of consolidated Development Plan was  providing growth impetus  in  the construction activities in the country. Moreover, several  initiatives  that cut across  numerous sector are already under implementation to spur industrialization.

The broad-based revival of Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) was projected to sustain growth  at 6 per cent  during ongoing financial year 2021-22. The sector has idle capacity and with the ‘ease of doing business’ related reforms, where Pakistan’s ranking  has quite appreciably improved from 136 in 2019 to 108 in 2020, this sector was projected to maintain its growth momentum.

Moreover,  collateral –free guarantee scheme  for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) was also expected to underpin overall manufacturing sector growth prospectus.

The buoyancy in construction, with spillovers in allied industries, and with  the new entrants  in the car industry, the overall manufacturing sector   was projected to post moderate growth at around 6.2 per cent  during financial year 2021-22, the sources maintained.