LSM Growth Shrinks By Over 13pc In April Due To Energy Shortage, Uncertainty.

ISLAMABAD -- Large: scale manufacturing (LSM) growth has been contracted by over 13 per cent in April this year as against March mainly due to the energy shortage and uncertainty on political as well economic fronts in the country.

The LSM, which was continuously showing handsome growth in last several months, has recorded negative growth of 13.3 percent in April 2022 as compared to March, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). However, the LSM has recorded growth of 10.7 percent in first ten months (July 2021 to April 2022) period of current fiscal year. The LSM has rebounded after months of a downturn on account of the Covid: 19 pandemic, mainly in the automobile, construction, textile, food, chemicals, non: metallic mineral products and pharmaceutical sectors.

Accommodative fiscal and monetary measures continued in FY2022 provided incentives to the businesses to perform better. Thus, LSM picked up the momentum and staged the overall growth of during FY2022. The performance was broad based on the back of strong growth of high weighted sectors such as textile, food, wearing apparel, chemicals, automobile, tobacco, and iron and steel products. It is also pertinent to mention here that operationalization of special economic zones under CPEC in Nowshera, Pishin and Faisalabad further paved the way for fast tracked industrial development which is pivotal to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth. However, supply: side disruptions, which were originated from pandemic, are still in place due to emergence of new variants. Ukraine: Russia conflict has further escalated this disruption. Thus, internationally commodity prices are increasing significantly along with...