Higher output, statistically

Industrial output in March increased for the third month in a row, having gone up 11.5% since February this year. The Q1, 2001 production was 13% higher than in the same time last year.

The value of the total physical output in Q1 reached some six billion dollars, while the retail industry’s turnover fell 2% in February compared with the same month last year.

Industrial output in absolute volume in March was higher in the processing industry (13.3%) and in the extractive industry (8.7%) and lower in the thermal and electrical power, gases and water industry (-2.3%).

Industrial output in Q1, 2001 increased against the year-ago period, due to the decrease in the specific energy consumption, the increase in the export at a faster pace than production, as well as improvement in the export structure because of a higher weight of machinery construction, PM Adrian Nastase estimates.

“Exports accounted for 22.7% in the industry, while the stocks of end-products are in decline from 39.2% in January to 35.4% in March,” Nastase specified.

The Government’s priorities for the near future are putting the economy back on track, cutting inflation, speeding up privatisation, reducing red tape, fighting corruption and consolidating state’s authority, attracting foreign investments and foreign loans.