Industry catches up in February

The industrial output did better in February following a staggering start of the year in January, when it had seen stagnation in absolute volume from the same time last year. The growth in February was of 5.4% compared with February in comparable conditions in terms of number of working days. The National Statistics Institute (INS) data show the industrial output in the first two months to have been 4.8% higher compared with the corresponding period of 2003. The industrial output in February gained 6.5% in absolute terms. The growth index is above last year’s average, when it did not go over 3.2% in absolute volume. The electrical power production in the first two months was 2.7% higher than in the same time in 2003. The amount of electrical power produced by thermoelectric power plants, which accounts for more than 70% of the total, increased by nearly 11%. Although the output was close to last year’s level, January brought a 2.9% higher total turnover in real terms to the industrial companies. The industrial companies had logged 4.6% higher turnover in 2003 compared with 2002. ZF