KARACHI: Manufacturing output of non-metallic mineral products, iron & steel products, and electronics industries continued to expand at a healthy rate in the first five months of current fiscal year, keeping Pakistan’s large scale manufacturing (LSM) growth in positive territory. The overall output of LSMI increased by 3.24 percent for July-November in fiscal year 2016-17 (FY17) compared to July-November of FY16, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Thursday. “We expect the manufacturing sector to benefit from better availability of energy; continued low cost of borrowing; positive economic outlook of the country and ongoing infrastructural projects”, said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its first quarterly report for FY17. The Central bank further commented on the LSM sector that the recent recovery in cotton prices would provide some relief to the textile sector – a major contributor both in overall LSM and exports of the country. Encouragingly, a number of firms in cement and steel sectors are already making investments for capacity expansions; refineries are upgrading their plants; and a number of textile firms are undergoing Balancing, Modernization and Replacement (BMR) and installing coal fired or captive power plants, etc. Furthermore, several foreign companies are keen on partnering with local investors to launch projects in different sectors of the economy, it added During the first five months of FY17, the overall output of LSMI increased by 3.24 percent Year on Year (YoY) as only two constituent indices witnessed positive growth and one index saw negative growth. Highest contribution was made by Ministry of Industries (MI) Index, with yearly increase of 3.63 percent, while Provincial Bureau of Statistics (BOS) contributed yearly increase in production by 3.23 percent. However, Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) Index contracted by 0.37 percent YoY. Moreover, on monthly basis, overall output of LSMI increased significantly by 8.02 percent in November 2016 when compared with November 2015, indexes (OCAC, MoI & BOS) posted mixed growth trends in November as compared to corresponding month of last fiscal as OCAC posted 0.25 YoY growth while MoI and BOS registered growth of 6.66 percent and 1.11 percent respectively. The sectors showing growth during July-November of FY17 compared to July-November of FY16 were Textile (0.02%), food, beverages & tobacco (3.78%), Pharmaceuticals (7.64%), non-metallic products (10.48%), automobiles (5.57%), iron and steel products (14.53%), fertilizers (4.37%), electronics (14.52%), paper & board (3.76%) and rubber products (0.47%). The sectors showing decline during July-November FY17 compared to July-November FY16 were leather products (17.85%), coke & petroleum products (1.68%), chemicals (3.60%), engineering products (5.86%) and wood products (-97.08%).