Belgium: Industrial activity deteriorates further in January
Industrial output nosedived 7.3% year on year in calendar-adjusted terms in January, which was a larger contraction than December’s 1.7% decrease. The sharper drop was partly due to a sharper contraction in manufacturing production. In addition, energy production fell markedly.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, factory output fell at a sharper rate of 4.1% in January (December: -2.6% mom), the worst result since November 2021. Meanwhile, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of industrial production coming in at minus 1.9% in January, down from December’s minus 0.8%.
FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect industrial output to fall by 0.1% in 2023, which is up 1 percentage points from last month’s forecast, and expand by 0.9% in 2024.