Romania: Industrial activity drops again in February
Industrial production fell 2.6% year-on-year in February (January: -0.3% yoy). February’s downturn was chiefly driven by a stronger decline in manufacturing output, as well as in mining and quarrying production.
On a monthly basis, industrial production dropped 1.0% in seasonally-adjusted terms in February, contrasting January’s 0.6% expansion and marking the worst result since April 2020. Meanwhile, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of industrial production coming in at minus 9.4% in February, down from January’s minus 9.3% reading.
Lauren Braniff, economist at Oxford Economics, said:
“Similarly to retail, the beginning of 2021 has brought a renewed weakness for local industries, causing manufacturing exports to slow. We forecast the industrial sector will partially recover in 2021 to growth of 6.2%, with external demand playing a vital role in the rebound over the coming year.”