Romania: Industrial output declines for 11th month running in February before Covid-19 hit

Industrial production fell 2.6% year-on-year in seasonally- and working day-adjusted terms in February, matching January’s drop and marking the 11th consecutive month of contraction. February’s downturn was driven by sizeable declines in manufacturing and electricity output. Mining and quarrying production, however, rebounded in the month.

The annual average variation in industrial output, meanwhile, fell to minus 4.2% in February from minus 3.8% in January, marking the worst result since December 2009. Lastly, in seasonally- and working-day-adjusted month-on-month terms, industrial production rose 0.7%, following January’s 2.5% jump.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect industrial output to plunge 4.4% in 2020, which is down 4.7 percentage points from last month’s estimate. The panel expects industrial output to increase 3.4% in 2021.