Despite COVID: 19 outburst agri sector expands by 2.67pc.

LAHORE -- Though the covid: 19 pandemic struck a devastating blow to a low economic base country like Pakistan certain sectors here survived while giving hopes of recovery to the national economy.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2019: 20 there was no significant impact of Covid: 19 on the agriculture sector as the sector grew by 2.67 per cent.

Positive growth of 2.90 per cent in important crops was observed due to an increase in production of wheat rice and maize at 2.45 per cent 2.89 per cent and 6.01 per cent respectively. Similarly the increase has been witnessed in Fertilizer (5.81 per cent) Leather products (4.96 per cent) Rubber products (4.31 per cent) Paper and Board (4.23 per cent) and Non: metallic mineral products (1.82 per cent). Besides these sectors the pharmaceuticals also remained functional during the pandemic and in fact registered growth.

The PES 2019: 20 disclosed that the pace of contraction diminished in the pharmaceutical sector as it registered 5.38 per cent decline during July to March in FY: 2020 as compared to 8.66 per cent decline in the corresponding period. Also the pharmaceutical sector recorded the highest sales in March while it fetched $1.3 million Foreign Direct Investment in April 2020. Once the textile industry was leading exports of the country but now the pharmaceutical sector has been identified as the sector that could enhance the countrys exports to boost the countrys foreign exchange reserves. Pakistans...