The country’s industrial production declined by 16.7 percent in the month of March. Industrial production declined due to lockdown (shutdown) mainly due to poor performance of mining, manufacturing and power sector. According to the government data released on Tuesday, the industrial production index (IIP) grew by 2.7 percent in the month of March last year.
The government has implemented a nationwide shutdown from 25 March 2020 to prevent the corona virus epidemic. According to data from the National Statistics Office (NSO), manufacturing output declined by 20.6 percent in March 2020 as compared to 3.1 percent growth in the same month a year ago.
Electricity generation declined by 6.8 percent in the month under review, while it registered a growth of 2.2 percent in March 2019. According to the data, the production of the mining sector remained stable in March this year at the level of one year ago as compared to a growth of 0.8 percent in the same month a year ago. IIP declined by 0.7 percent in the last financial year as compared to a growth of 3.8 percent in 2018-19.
