LSM posts low growth: economic indicators depict mixed picture, ECC told

The Finance Ministry has reportedly informed the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet that latest economic indicators depict mixed picture with relatively low growth by the Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) largely because of on-going energy crisis in the country, it is learnt.
Sources said the meeting was informed that LSM growth for the month of June as well as average production for June-July 2011-12 as compared to the same period of last year was relatively low. The meeting was informed that LSM production was 0.2 percent in June 2012, much lower compared to 3.7 percent in the same period last year. On average LSM production for the period of July-June 2012, was 1.2 percent as compared to 1.9 percent for the same period of last year. The production in food beverage & tobacco, pharmaceuticals, non metallic mineral products, paper & board, textile, automobiles and fertilisers witnessed a growth whereas production of iron and steel, coke, petroleum products, electronics, chemicals, rubber, engineering products, leather and wood products fell largely because of energy crisis and high cost of input. The meeting was informed that export growth has decreased by 5.4 percent while imports increased by 5.7 percent thus trade deficit, year-on-year basis is $1.3 billion during July, 2012-13.
The worker remittances have reached $1.205 billion in July 2012-13 over $1.096 billion for the previous month, showing an increase of 9.9 percent. The country-wise details presented to the ECC showed that Saudi Arabia, UAE, and UK are the largest source of worker's remittances. Senior officials of the State Bank of Pakistan have reportedly informed the ECC that Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves (including FCA deposits with scheduled banks) stood at $14.8 million as on August 31, 2012. The Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said to have informed the meeting that provisional revenue collection for July 2012 was Rs 107 billion as compared to Rs 112 billion in the same period last year, reflecting a decrease of 5 percent. Net inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for July (2012-13) stood at $42 million and outflow $11 million.
A regional comparison of inflation suggests that Pakistan and other countries in the region are experiencing inflationary pressure. Pakistan's year-on-year inflation rate (CPI) registered at 9.1 percent in August 2012, while in India 9.9 percent (July 2012), followed by Bangladesh (8.6 percent, June 2012) and Sri Lanka (9.5 percent, August 2012).