Big industry grows 0.6pc in August

Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) swung to growth in August, posting an annual increase of 0.6 per cent and 3.9pc compared to July, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting the economy has slightly revived. That was quite an improvement from July, when the LSM shrank 1.4pc year-on-year and 16pc month-on-month. Economists have already raised concerns about an economic slowdown caused by record energy and raw material prices. The combined figure for July and August — the first two months of the fiscal year — showed large-scale manufacturing dipped 0.4pc compared to the same period a year ago. The main contributors to the slowdown were garments (down 5.3pc), cement (2pc), petroleum products (1.2pc), fertilisers (0.2pc), and iron and steel products (0.5pc), according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.