Evaluation of the Covid-19 pandemic on industrial productivity in the manufacturing sector.

Abstract

This research paper provides an overview of the covid-19 pandemic effects on the manufacturing sector within Uganda. Data concerning the production rates, power consumption, and labour productivity was analyzed from four manufacturing industries representing different sectors for three time periods. The first period was before the covid-19 standard operating procedures and the lockdown was enacted by the government. This covered the months of January and February in 2020 with the main goal of identifying the normal industrial productivity rates to serve as a basis for comparison with the new rates during the covid-19 pandemic. The second period this research focused on was during the month of the first lockdown after the first presidential address was passed on 18th March to combat the spread of the covid-19 pandemic at the national level. This catered for the months of March and April in 2020 during which the presidential directives were strongly enforced by different arms of the government and private sector. Lastly, the third time frame this research catered was May to analyze how the industrial operations faired onwards which incorporates the time when the restrictions were eased by the government.