Industrial output up 6%

Industrial output went up 6% in 2002, according to the National Statistics Institute, both in absolute volume and in comparable conditions in terms of number of working days. This was solely due to the processing industry, which grew 7.9%. This result is a bit better than expected, as the Development and Prognosis Ministry was prepared to see industrial output up 5.8% and processing industry growth of 7.4%. The six-percent output growth comes after the 8.2% increase in 2001, when the processing industry progressed by 9.6%. Output last year went up 14.5% for durables, 9.3% for nondurables, 7.1% for intermediary goods, 2% for capital goods, and fell 1.2% for the energy industry. Compared with the corresponding month in 2001, the industrial output in December 2002 was 8.6% higher in absolute volume and 4.9% higher in comparable conditions in terms of number of working days. Inventories of finished products in the industry were worth 43,532bn ROL by the end of December, accounting for 35.2% of the month’s resources. As for 2003, the Development and Prognosis Ministry expects to see industrial output up 6.5%, compared with the previous year, with the growth to be fuelled again by the processing industry. This industry is anticipated to outpace the rest of the sector. ZF