Rainfall changes could impact global manufacturing, services sectors

What is the News?

According to a study, an increase in the number of rainy days leads to a downfall in economic output. 

What is the study about?

The study was conducted to look at how rainfall patterns hurt the economy. The group compared daily rainfall data with subnational economic output from 77 countries between 1979 and 2019.

What are the key findings of the study?

An increase in the number of days with rainfall exceeding one millimeter led to a substantial decline in growth rates. A rise in extreme rainfall days contributed further to this loss.

Impact of Extreme Rainfall: The study suggests that increasing wet days and extreme rainfall will likely hit prosperous countries harder. This is because these countries rely more on the manufacturing and services sectors.

How will India be impacted if extreme rainfall happens?

In India, the agriculture sector is the most impacted. This is because of the quantum of the people involved and the economic share that agriculture provides.

However, this can be overcome by altering sowing dates, investing in irrigation and availing insurance in addition to changing crop varieties.

Moreover, the study also offers important lessons for India as the country aims to become a manufacturing hub. The country’s manufacturing sector is heavily dependent on supply chains, and supply chains are heavily disrupted during extreme weather events.

Note: Manufacturing Sector currently contributes roughly 17% to GDP. Its share in employment was 7.3% in 2020-2021.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘Rainfall changes could impact global manufacturing, services sectors’ published in Down To Earth on 22nd January 2022.