LSM set 12% growth target, agriculture 9%

By Fida Hussain


ISLAMABAD: The National Economic Council (NEC) has set growth targets of 12 percent, 9 percent and 9.4 percent for large-scale manufacturing of industrial goods, agriculture and mineral production respectively for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, according to official data.

According to the data, the manufacture of cotton yarn will grow by 6.0 percent in the next fiscal year against the target of 7.2 percent. The production of cotton cloth will register a growth of 11.0 percent in the next fiscal year against the target of 30.2 percent.

The manufacture of vegetable ghee will register a growth of 4.9 percent in the next fiscal year against the target of 2.5 percent. Sugar production has been estimated to grow by 4.5 percent in 2005-06 against the 1.5 percent target set for this fiscal year.

The production of Nitrogeneous fertiliser will grow by 6.9 percent next fiscal year against the target of 4.0 percent. Similarly the production of Phosphatic fertilisers will grow by 9.9 percent against the target of 27.6 percent.

Cement production has been estimated to grow by 10 percent in the next fiscal year. The production of petroleum products will grow by 15 percent while the production of paints and varnish both solid and liquid will grow by 10 percent. The manufacture of cars, jeeps and light commercial vehicle will grow by 25 percent each in the next financial year. Similarly the manufacture of tractors will grow by 15 percent and the manufacture of trucks and buses will grow by 20 percent and bicycles by 9.9 percent in the next fiscal year.

In the agriculture sector, the NEC has estimated that the wheat production target of 20.8 million tonnes for the 2005-20006 Rabi season. The production target of cotton for Kharif season of the next fiscal year has been estimated at 15 million bales.

According to the data, the production of Basmati rice will be 5,000 thousand metric tonnes which is an increase of 0.2 percent. Sugarcane production has been estimated to grow by 10.5 percent in the next fiscal year and the estimated production will be 50,095 thousand metric tonnes.

A major increase of 57 percent has been estimated in the production of Jawar. 292 thousand metric tones were manufactured. Similarly, the production of Bajra was set a target of 300 thousand metric tonnes in the next fiscal year which is a 55.4 percent increase on the current fiscal year.

Maize production has been estimated to grow at 4.7 percent with a production of 2,905 thousand metric tonnes in 2005-06. Meat production will grow by 3.1 percent and the total production has been estimated to be 2,346 thousand metric tonnes in the coming financial year.

The growth in the production of milk has been estimated at 3.0 percent and the total milk production will be 30,357 thousand metric tonnes in 2005-06.

In the mineral sector a growth of 10 percent has been estimated in the production of crude oil, natural gas, coal and limestone while rock salt is expected to grow by 7 percent in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

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