Industrial output picks up 3% in 3Q

The country’s industrial production has picked up in the third quarter according to the Department of Census and Statistics.

It said as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the output of the manufacturing sector rose by 3% in the third quarter ended September 2016, in comparison to average production in 2015. The third quarter performance compares better than 1.1% growth achieved in the second quarter over 2015 but lower as against 4.8% increase reported in the first quarter of this year.

According to the IIP values released for the third quarter 2016, the volume of industrial production has increased by 3.8% in the month of July 2016 compared. The production of the manufacturing sector for the third quarter of 2016 has increased by 3.0% compared to average production in 2015.The furniture industry (20.9%) and basic pharmaceutical products showed remarkable increases 20.3% in July 2016. The volume of food products which dipped by 1% in July has increased by 3% and 0.5% in August and September 2016 respectively. Coke and refined petroleum products showed an increase in July but in August and September dipped by 4.1%, and 3.3% respectively. The increase corresponding to food products and beverages for the third quarter was 1.5% and 4.4%. Electrical equipment industry showed 4a .9%, 0.5%, 16.1% decrease in production during the months July, August and September respectively and this industry showed a quarterly decrease of 7.2% compared to the average production of this industry in 2015. 

The department compiles the IIP which it said is an important indicator of economic performance. Its main purpose is to provide a measure of the short term changes in the volume of industrial production over a given period of time. It can be used to identify the turning points in economic development at an early stage. Monthly IIP will be released quarterly, with a time lag of 63 days. The base year for the IIP complied by DCS is 2015. IIP value difference base years cannot be compared. 

The weights for compiling the IIP were estimated using the annual survey of industries. The weights were derived based on the value added of the product of manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector of food products reported to be the major contributor for the total industrial value added (35.2%) of the country, followed by apparels (19.8%) and non-metallic mineral products (7.8%).