The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) output, for the month of March decreased by a whopping 22.95 per cent as compared to the same month last year. This was mainly due to mass closure of industries across the country amid COVID-19.
The LSM constitutes 80pc of the country’s total manufacturing and accounts for nearly 10.7pc of the national output. In comparison, small-scale makes up for just 1.8pc of GDP and 13.7pc of the secondary sector.
The data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed the impact of global economic slowdown on the local manufacturers in the month of March. The results to be released for the month of April will show a much higher decrease in output because a complete lockdown was observed for the whole month.
For the first time in the history of Pakistan not even a single vehicle was sold in the whole month on April. Now the situation is expected to improve because the government has partially lifted the lockdown and allowed export-oriented as well as domestic industries to resume operations.
