Colombia: Pace of industrial production contraction steepens in April

In April, industrial production contracted 3.6% over the same month of the previous year, which was a steeper contraction than the 0.1% drop recorded in March and largely undershot market expectations of a softer 0.3% decline. The print was the lowest in three months and reflected decreases in two-thirds of the index’s sub-categories. The contraction was very largely driven by a fall in petroleum-related industries.

LatinFocus Consensus Forecast participants expect that industrial production will expand 2.2% in 2015, which is down 0.6 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2016, the panel expects industrial production to increase 3.1%.