CAIRO, Jul 13 (Aswat Masriya) – Industrial production index of Egypt's public sector dropped by 2.9 per cent to reach EGP 144.1 billion in the 2014/15 fiscal year, compared to EGP 148.4 billion in the previous year, the official statistics agency said.

The drop is due to a decline in the value of industrial production of some economic activities as food production industry and textile industry, according to a report issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics on Wednesday.

The production value of the clothing and textile production industry fell to approximately EGP 1.8 billion in 2014/15, compared to EGP 2.4 billion in the previous year, registering a decline of 22.8 per cent, after some factories halted their operations.

The report mentioned that food production industry recorded an 0.8 per cent decline, falling from EGP 13.5 billion to EGP 13.4 billion, while coke oven and petroleum products saw a 5 per cent decrease as they stood at EGP 95.6 billion in 2014/15.

The iron and steel industry witnessed an 8.2 per cent increase, as it rose from EGP 9.7 billion in 2013/14 to EGP 10.5 billion in the next year, the report added.