Industrial output freezes

The Romanian industry started the year on the wrong foot: a modest 0.4% growth in January 2004 (as compared to January 2003), in absolute volume, after having surged 1.6% in the year-ago period.

At the same time, the first month of the year saw the industrial output collapse against December 2003, when a 5.9% increase was reported. Under similar conditions in terms of number of working days, industrial output posted only 3.8% growth as compared to January 2003.

Industrial output climbed a mere 3.2% in absolute volume last year, an evolution that was chiefly triggered by the processing industry segment. The increase accounts for half the growth pace registered in 2002.

Industry companies reported 4.6% higher turnover against the year 2002. Last year, investments totaling 249,704.3 billion ROL (some 6.64 billion euros) were aimed at the Romanian economy, accounting for an 8.5% growth in real terms as compared to 2002.

Investments poured into new constructions came to 102,333.2 billion ROL (up 5.8%), the equivalent of 41% of the total volume.

At the same time, investments aimed at transportation means and equipment stood at 121,521 billion ROL, namely 48.7% of the total and 12.6% more than in the previous year.

The private sector accounted for 67.6% of the total investments, marking an 11.2% leap against the previous year. The main investment target was the acquisition of transportation means and equipment, which accounted for 57.6% of the reported volume.

With an important contribution to the GDP growth, the constructions market surged 6.5% in 2003, to the equivalent of some 4.4 billion euros, with new constructions accounting for almost 62% of the total value of works. razvan.voican@zf.ro