Industrial production in Croatia in May rose by 1.6% on an annual level, making this the 16th month of growth, but slower than a month ago and less than expected
National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) announced on Thursday that industrial production in May fell by 1.4% compared to March, but rose by 1.6% compared to May 2015, Tportal.hr reported on June 30, 2016.
It’s a slower growth than a month ago, when production rose by 4.9% on an annual level, slower than expected.
Four macroeconomists, taking part in a HINA poll, estimated that on average industrial production in May rose by 2.7% annually. Their growth projections ranged from 1.5 do 4.5%.
“Although slowed, the trend of positive rates of annual growth has been continuing for 16 months in a row,” analysts of Raiffeisenbank Austria state, commenting on the DZS report.
Growth of industrial production for 16 months in a row hasn’t been recorded since 2007, two years ahead of the six-year recession.
The largest growth in May, by 5.5% annually, was made by capital products, followed by 2.8% growth of production of permanent products for mass consumption.
The production of expendable goods for mass consumption rose by 2.2% and intermediary products by 1.4%.
However, the production of energy fell in May by 1.6% annually.
In the first five months industrial production rose by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, thanks to stronger international demand, proven by multiannual growth of export.
“Positive shits are most likely the result of the recovery of international demand and reduction of stockpiles present in 2015,” RBA analysts stated.
Thus a trend of production growth continued, entering its third year. Last year the industrial production rose by 2.6%, while the year before it grew by 1.3%.
“For the rest of the year, assuming the continuing recovery of international demand, we expect positive annual growth rates, supporting the positive rate of realistic GDP growth,” RBA analysts conclude.
