The 1.3% increase in industrial output in 2014 and the 1.9% rise in the first eight months of 2015 clearly shows that the industrial production growth has picked up and, together with increasing retail sales, it will make a strong contribution to GDP growth in the third quarter of the year
"It is becoming increasingly likely that the growth rate in the third quarter might be higher than that in the second quarter," he said, declining to speculate how high it might be. "We'll see that when we get indicators for all the months in the third quarter."
Grcic said that this was certainly the result of an improved business environment in Croatia, as shown by the economic sentiment indicator published by the European Commission. "This indicator has stagnated this month, but it is important to note that it is currently the highest in Europe," he added.
The national statistical office DZS said on Tuesday that industrial production in August 2015 had increased by 2.8% compared with August 2014, whereas in the first eight months of the year it had gone up by 1.9% in relation to the same period in 2014.
Grcic noted that in the first eight months of the year industrial output had grown in seven months. He specifically mentioned a production increase of 4.6% in the manufacturing industry in August 2015 compared with August 2014. "That's particularly interesting to us given how much we have invested in restructuring and kick-starting the industrial sector."
Grcic also mentioned a 95% production increase in the shipbuilding industry. "This corroborates what we have been emphasising in recent days, that we have managed to restructure this sector and that the actual, major effects of that process are becoming visible this year."
He added that in the first eight months of 2015 shipbuilding sector production had increased by 36%. "Right now Uljanik has more than one billion euros in orders, which is excellent news not just for industrial production growth but also for further export growth." He also mentioned a 14.7% increase in capital goods production.
When asked if the government had received a letter from the EU commissioner for finance regarding negative potential effects of government measures to resolve the problem of loans pegged to the Swiss franc, Grcic said that Finance Minister Boris Lalovac had said everything about this matter, adding that the government was in communication with the European Commission in that regard.
(Hina) vm
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