Croatia's annual industrial production in April up 4.9%

Croatia's industrial production in April increased by 4.9% on the year, which was the 15th month in a row of growth, but the growth in April was slower than in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) said on Monday.

According to working day-adjusted data, industrial production in April 2016 fell by 2.9% from March 2016, but increased by 4.9% compared with April 2015.

This was a slower rate than recorded in March when industrial production increased by 6.9% on the year and slower than forecast.

Four economic analysts polled by Hina had estimated that industrial production in April would increase on average by 7.7% year on year, their projections ranging from 5% to 9.2%.

The growth recorded in April reflects the continuing trend that has been going on for 15 consecutive months, which hasn't been recorded since 2007 or two years prior to the six-year recession.

"Positive trends in industrial production continued in April, fifteen months in a row, albeit at a somewhat slower rate than in the preceding month," analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comment on the DZS report.

In the first four months of this year, industrial production increased by 6.4% compared to the same period last year.

This is the continuation of the trend in production which has entered into its third year. Last year, industrial production increased by 2.6% and the year before that it grew by 1.3%.

Apart from stronger exports which have continued for several years, industrial production has been positively impacted by a mild recovery in domestic demand.

"On the assumption of further recovery in foreign demand, we expect the positive annual growth rate in industrial production to continue during the year which should underpin the real GDP growth rate," RBA analysts said.

(Text: Hina)

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