More productive labour in 2003 helped push growth of value-added of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to surpass that of the overall manufacturing sector.
Value-added of SMEs grew by 11.8 % last year against 8.2 % growth recorded by the manufacturing sector. The robust growth came from a strong 7.8 % rise in labour productivity.
The latest Small and Medium Industries Development Corp (Smidec) report on the performance of the SMEs in the local manufacturing sector states that output from the SMEs expanded by 9.7 % last year.
Output growth was the largest in the basic metal sector at 16.9 %, followed by paper and paper products at 11.7 % and petroleum products at 11.3 %.
The food and beverage sector managed 9.1 % growth, which was an impressive performance given the high volume of output and the highly competitive nature of the business.
