Italy: Industrial production in December falls at sharpest rate in six months

In December, industrial output fell a seasonally-adjusted 0.7% over the previous month, which followed the 0.5% decrease tallied in November and marked a six-month low. December’s reading significantly undershot market expectations of a 0.3% increase. The result reflected deteriorations in all sectors of the industry, with mining and quarrying in particular swinging to a 10-month low.

On an annual basis, industrial production fell a working-day adjusted 1.0% in December, which contrasted the 1.1% increase tallied in November. As a consequence, annual average growth in industrial output inched down from November’s 1.0% to 0.9% in December.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists see industrial production growing 1.8% in 2016, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2017, panelists also expect industrial output to expand 1.8%.