Slovak August's industrial output recorded the biggest drop since July 2016

Slovak August's industrial output recorded the biggest drop since July 2016
Slovakia ́s industrial production recorded a year-on-year decline of 8.1% in August, the biggest drop since 2012 / bne IntelliNews
By bne IntelliNews October 13, 2019

Slovakia ́s industrial production recorded a year-on-year decline of 8.1% in August, the biggest drop since 2012, mostly due to a 9.5% decrease in industrial manufacturing, following a 2.8% increase in July, the Slovak Statistical Office (SSO) announced on October 10.

“The Slovak industrial production recorded the biggest y/y drop in August since 2012. Slovakia started to feel the economic slowdown from abroad, particularly from Eurozone and Germany,” said VUB bank Economist Michal Lehuta, TV TA3 reported. Slovakia ́s industrial production depends largely on the car sector, which has been weakening due to decreasing demand abroad. 

“The trend has been worsening, however, in July and August we have to take into account also factory holidays,” Lehuta noted, adding that he expects the industry numbers to amount to 3% by the end of the year. 

As SSO reported, the supplies of electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning rose by 1.9% y/y and the output of mining and quarrying by 5%. “After seasonal adjustment, industrial production decreased by 2.6% in August compared to July,” said SSO spokesperson. 

In 8M19, industrial production accelerated by 3% y/y, following growth in electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply by 8.6%, in mining and quarrying by 3.3% and in manufacturing by 2.3%.

Industrial output is expected to amount to 1.7% in 3Q19, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. “Looking forward, we estimate industrial production in Slovakia to stand at 1.7% in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Slovakia industrial production is projected to trend around 1.6% in 2020, according to our econometric models,” they said. 

Data

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