September 17, 2014

In August, industrial production growth was flat over the same month last year. The reading came in below the 1.5% expansion observed in July and undershot market expectations of a 1.2% increase. The monthly slowdown was solely the result of a notable contraction in manufacturing production, whereas mining and quarrying as well as electricity generation helped to compensate for this deterioration.



Sequential data point to a deeper deterioration in industrial production than the slowdown suggested by the annual data. Industrial production fell a seasonally-adjusted 0.6% over the previous month, which contrasted the 0.5% expansion in July. The trend stabilized, as the annual average growth in industrial production was unchanged at July’s 1.3% in August.

The government sees industrial output expanding 2.2% in 2014. The panel expects industrial production to increase 0.8% in 2014, which is up 0.2 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2015, the panel expects growth in industrial production to accelerate to 1.6%.