Shrinking LSM.

Big industry production and large-scale manufacturing shrunk by 5.49 percent in November 2022 and contracted for the third month in a row. This led to major layoff fears and indicates that there are rough waters ahead for Pakistan's economic growth. Projections show that the next quarter will see more slippages and affected sectors include textiles, food, automobiles, and fertilisers.

This production rate is owed to price increases and export-based manufacturing. Since energy and other inputs have increased in cost, as many as 15 sectors have reported shrinkage. Likewise, in an attempt to curb inflation, the interest rate was hiked so that monetary and quantitative tightening could be used as a control measure by the government. Other government interventions, such as the import ban and a sharp decline in the rupee value have also made matters worse.

LSM occupies nearly a fifth of the GDP and growth for the FY23 stands at barely 3 percent, according to the federal government. The World Bank has stated an even lower projection, according to the latest prospective report, with the growth rate pegged at 2 percent. Among the areas that...