Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The industrial sector of the country is projected to grow at 5.8 percent during the current fiscal year 2017-18 against the growth of 5.43 percent in 2016-17 and 5.69 percent in 2015-16.

Among the industrial sector, the mining and quarrying sector would grow by 3.04 percent compared to the negative growth of 0.38 percent in 2016-17 and increase of 6.19 percent in 2015-16, according to latest data available for six to eight months and projected for the whole year.

Manufacturing sector would grow by 6.24 percent in 2018-19 against 5.82 percent in 2016-17 and 3.69 percent in 2015-16.

Among the manufacturing sector, the large scale manufacturing is estimated to grow at 6.13 percent compared to the growth of 5.62 percent last year and 2.98 percent in 2015-16.

Similarly, the small scale manufacturing would grow by 8.18 percent compared to 8.15 percent and 8.19 percent during the last two consecutive years respectively.

The construction sector would also grow 9.13 percent compared to 9.84 percent in 2016-17 and 13.68 percent in 2015-16.

Meanwhile, the agriculture sector of the country is estimated to grow by 3.81 percent during the fiscal year 2017-18 against the growth of 2.07 percent in 2016-17 and 0.15 percent in 2015-16, showing considerable improvements as compared to last couple of years.

Among the agriculture sector, the crops sector witnessed 3.83 percent growth, with important crops growing by 3.57 percent and others crops by 3.33 percent.

During the year 2016-17, the growth of crops was recorded at 0.91 percent while there was negative growth of 5.27 percent in 2015-16, the provisional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates revealed.

The Cotton Ginning sector was the top contributor in terms of percentage to help agriculture sector achieve this growth rate as this sector grew by 8.27 percent during the period under review.

The cotton ginning had witnessed 5.58 percent growth in 2016-17 and negative growth of 22.12 in financial year 2015-16.

Similarly, the livestock sector grew by 3.76 percent in 2017-18 against the growth of 2.99 percent in 2016-17 and 3.36 percent in 2015-16.

The forestry sector also grew by 7.17 percent in 2017-18, which had witnessed negative growth of 2.37 percent in 2016-17 and positive growth of 14.31 percent in 2015-16.

The fishing sector also witnessed positive growth of 1.63 percent in 2017-18 against the growth of 1.23 percent in 2016-17 and 3.25 percent in 2015-16, the data revealed.

The provisional GDP estimate for the year 2017-18 has been estimated at 5.79, according to the provisional data.

Published in Daily Times, April 24^th 2018.