Belarus: Annual growth in industrial production slows in December
January 23, 2018
In December, growth in the industrial sector slowed considerably from the previous month: Industrial production expanded 3.9% over the same month of 2016, down from November’s 6.3% year-on-year growth. Annual average growth in industrial production inched down to 6.1% in December, marginally below November’s 6.2%.
The manufacturing sector’s strong pace of expansion was sustained, but mining and quarrying output grew at a slightly faster clip. Moreover, the water supply, waste management and remediation activities sector also contributed to December’s print, expanding for the first time in the year, albeit at a very weak rate. However, these gains were more than offset by a slowdown in the electricity, gas, steam, hot water and conditioning supply sector.
FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists project that industrial production will expand 3.5% in 2018, which is up 0.3 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2019, panelists expect industrial production to rise 3.1%.
Author: Nihad Ahmed, Economist
