ECONOMY

Spain industrial production rises at faster pace

A view of a hall at the Mobile World Congress mobile communications trade fair in Barcelona. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa.

Within five sectors, four sectors posted positive annual growth rates in January

Spain industrial production grew at a slightly faster pace in January driven by consumer goods output, the statistical office INE said on Tuesday.

Industrial output climbed by an adjusted 1.7% year-on-year in January, following December's 1.3% increase.

Nonetheless, this was weaker than the economists' forecast of +2.3%.

On an unadjusted basis, industrial output growth improved to 4.0% from 3.0%, data showed.

Within five sectors, four sectors posted positive annual growth rates in January.

Month on month decline

Consumer goods output advanced 5.0% and intermediate goods production gained 1.6%. At the same time, energy output grew only 0.2% and capital goods output fell 1.3%.

Month-on-month, industrial production slid 0.1% in January, but slower than the 0.5% decline logged in December. This was the second consecutive fall in production.