Industrial output falls – textiles & footwear sectors fare badly in the first quarter this year

16 May '05

1 min read

The manufacturing output declined by 5.5% y-o-y decrease in March against a 1.3% decrease in February, National Statistical Service said.

Media quoting analysts said they are disappointed due to such a high decline in the manufacturing output while production costs ballooned.

Markedly, leather-footwear showed steep decline of 23.1 percent while textiles registered another downward spiral of 19.6 percent. In the first quarter this year (Jan-Mar) manufacturing production decreased by 1.5 percent. The total industrial output dropped 4.9 percent y-o-y in March compared to a 1.5 percent drop noted in February.

Meanwhile, exports in the first quarter of 2005 increased by 6.9 percent compared to the same quarter of 2004, contributing to the increase of the final demand of the economy by 1.1 percent. The increase of exports is greater than the corresponding increase of GDP, resulting in the growth of the relevant share of exports to the final demand.

Also the first quarter imports this year rose by 1.6 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The growth rate of imports is smaller than the exports, showing the increase of the relevant contribution of domestic products to the final domestic demand.

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