ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Pakistan’s industrial output declined by 6.20 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year because of the global financial crisis.

The World Bank and IMF have already said that Pakistan’s economy is facing difficulties which will be aggravated by the global crisis. Massive layoffs in textile and electronic industries are feared in the next few months.

According to figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics on Monday, many sub-sectors of large-scale manufacturing, including automobile and electronic goods, did not perform well during the July-Sept period, indicating that the 6.1 per cent growth target in the LSM sector set for 2008-09 may not to be achieved.The cost of production in the industrial sector has increased because of the rising utility bills and interest rates.

The FBS figures showed that production of cotton yarn declined by 0.55 per cent, cotton cloth 0.88 per cent and power-looms by 64.42 per cent.

In the electrical sector, production of refrigerators declined by 1.60 per cent, deep-freezers 29.22pc, air-conditioners 22.55pc, electric bulbs 21.04pc, tubes 11.14pc, motors 32.43pc, meters 18.91pc, switchgears 22.78pc, electric transformers 5.86pc, TV sets 10.83pc and bicycles 14.49 per cent during the July-Sept period.

Iron and steel production declined by 1.50 per cent, pig iron 10.95pc, billets 39.26pc and HR sheets 22.04pc. The production of vegetable ghee dropped by 12.49pc and cooking oil by 8.55pc.

In the automobile sector, production of buses declined by 41.25pc, jeeps and cars 47.16pc and motorcycles 8.49pc.

The industrial growth has been declining for the past three years. The growth, which was 19.9 per cent in 2004-05, dropped to 5.4 per cent in 2007-08 because of capacity constraints and high cost of doing business, resulting in the closure of a large number of units.

As a result of the decline in the industrial output, the import bill of consumer and electronic goods surged during the July-Sept period. The slump also badly affected the export of textiles.