Industrial output rebounds

Industrial output made up for the February decline in March. The March growth was of 4.6% compared with the previous month in comparable conditions (11.5% in absolute volume). If looking at the actual value, the output was worth 3.3% more than in the same month last year. Industrial output had gone down 0.2% in the first two months of this year, compared with the corresponding period of 2002. The National Statistics Institute (INS) release does not provide any details as to the quarterly dynamics of the industrial output over against the same time in 2002, though. On the other hand, INS says Q1 witnessed a “structural improvement” in the industry compared with Q1 last year, because of the higher growth of the processing industry (2.2%). Taking the main industry branches one by one, the output was up 23.5% for durables and sled 0.9% for electrical and thermal power, gas and water, as well as for the capital goods. ZF