Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The current fiscal year 2015-16 has experienced a significant growth of 21.57 percent in the production of jeeps and cars when compared to the corresponding period of last year. The data collected by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) noted that as many as 168,363 jeeps and cars were manufactured during July-May (2015-16) while 138,490 units were produced last year(July-May 2014-15).

In addition, the production of Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) also grew by at least 35.65 percent to 33,632 units in the current year from the previous output of 24,794 units during last year. The production of motorcycles also increased by 16.65 percent during the same period, from 1,606,075 units last year to 1,873,491 units during the first eleven months of the ongoing year. Furthermore, the production of buses also significantly increased by 85.79 percent from 535 units last year to 994 units during the current fiscal year while the production of trucks also increased by 37.11 percent from the previous 3,694 units to 5,065 units at present.

Nevertheless, the production of tractors witnessed a decline during the same period and went down by 30.84 percent from the last year’s output of 45,332 to 31,350 units this year. Despite the increase in units, the production of jeeps and cars witnessed a negative growth of 4.59 percent by decreasing from 15,890 units in May 2015 to 15,161 units in May 2016 on a year-on-year basis. In addition, the production of LCVs also declined from 3,599 units during May 2015 to 2,114 units during May 2016, showing a negative growth of 41.26 percent.

Furthermore, the production of motors cycles also increased by 11.35 percent from 162,868 units in May 2015 to 181,358 units in May 2016. In the same period, the production of buses and trucks also increased by 113.33 percent and 8.50 percent respectively where as many as 128 buses and 587 trucks were manufactured during May 2016, when compared to the previous production of 60 and 541 units respectively.

The production of tractors also increased by 14.34 percent in May 2016, during which the output was recorded at 4,735 units compared to the production of 4,141 units in May 2015. Meanwhile, the overall Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector also witnessed a growth of 3.45 per cent during the first 11 months of the year 2015-16, when compared to the corresponding period of last year. The Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) of large scale manufacturing industries was, hence, recorded at 132.80 points during July-May (2015-16) against 128.37 points in the same period of last year, PBS noted.

While the indices monitored by Ministry of Industries witnessed the highest growth of 2.21 percent, and the indices of Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS) registered an increase of 1.24 percent, however, the indices of Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) were seen to have decreased by 0.003 percent.

The industrial growth also decreased by 1.49 percent on a year-to-year basis during May 2016, when compared to the same month in 2015 while it decreased by 3.47 percent on a month-to-month basis during May 2016 when compared to growth of April 2016.