CHAPTER 5: ACTIVITY IN SELECTED SECTORS
Manufacturing
5.1
On the basis of the figures on
domestic exports
(paragraph 2.1), retained imports of raw materials and semi-manufactures (paragraph 2.12), outward cargo movements by
sea and by air (paragraph 5.19), and the quantity of
electricity consumed by the manufacturing sector, there is evidence of a considerable revival in manufacturing activity
in the first half of 1983.
5.2
According to the results of the Quarterly Business Survey (1)
conducted in April 1983, businessmen expected price competition, exchange rate uncertainties and high material prices to be their major problems during the second quarter. The problem of insufficient business orders, which was experienced in the first quarter, was expected to ease in the second quarter. The order-book positions of a selection
of large manufacturers included in the monthly survey on employment, payroll and orders-on-hand (2) confirm this view.
5.3
From factory visits and contacts
industrialists, some qualitative assessment of
state of the manufacturing industry can be made.
with local
the present
First, many
/large
(1) The Quarterly Business Surveys conducted by the Census and Statistics Department seek from respondents their impression of business conditions in the immediately preceding quarter and their opinion regarding business prospects in the forthcoming quarter. The sample used for the survey consists of some 800 firms taken from various sectors. It is a selection of the largest firms in each sector plus a random sample of medium sized firms.
(2)
See footnote (3) in Chapter 2.
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