Sharp drop in industrial output growth

Industrial output increased in 2005 by just 2% against a 6.3% output increase seen in 2004 as compared to 2003. Industrial output grew slightly in December last year, by 2.2% against the same month of the previous year, as revealed by the data published by the National Statistics Institute (INS) on Wednesday. Though lacking intensity, the output growth in the last month of 2005 was the best result achieved by the industry in the last quarter of last year. The output growth is based on a larger increase in industry productivity, which made up for the personnel cuts in this sector. The INS reported a work productivity growth of 5.2% in the industrial sector last year, as compared to 2004. ZF