Industrial production...

In another massive blow to the sector, the sharp increase in borrowing costs also affected the companies, as factories put on hold their expansion plans and scaled down manufacturing operations after the policy measures were directed at restraining demand, although much of the problems lie in lack of supplies.

The food product manufacturing fell by 12.4 percent between the two periods in April while the beverages showed only a 0.2 percent increase, perhaps due to exports.

The wearing apparels meanwhile showed some robust growth of 32.2 percent in April over the same month last year but the future looks bleak, as the industry stakeholders feel that their customers are shifting their orders elsewhere to reduce the risk of reliance on Sri Lanka, due to the ongoing instability in its economy and society.

An apparel sector stakeholder said there are signs of declining of orders by up to 20 percent, of which the impact would be seen in July and August. The garment exporters are also said to be facing issues in paying their suppliers, due to the lack of dollars in banks, which may affect the imports of their raw materials.

The textiles and garments is the largest manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka, generating US $ 5.0 billion in export income per annum.

Meanwhile, among the other major subcategories under the IIP, the coke and refined petroleum products took the biggest plunge by contracting by 97.8 percent over a year ago, as the refinery was non-operational, due to the acute fuel crisis facing the country.

The chemical and chemical products manufacturing activities expanded by 33.3 percent in April while the rubber and plastic products had a slight improvement of 0.8 percent.