The State Bureau of Statistics will publish today data on industrial production for August, and macroeconomists expect a decline for the fifth consecutive month.
Four macroeconomists who participated in a Hina survey estimate that, on average, industrial production in August fell by 3.3 percent compared to the same month last year. All expect a decline, ranging between 1.5 and 5.0 percent.
Although significant, this would be a smaller decline than in July, when production plummeted by 4.1 percent.
After growth at the beginning of the year, industrial production has been continuously weakening since April, recording an overall decline of 1.3 percent in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period last year.
Barriers to production growth include weak domestic consumption as well as foreign demand, as the eurozone, Croatia’s main foreign trade partner, is slowly recovering from recession.
“In August, we expect a continuation of a stronger decline in industrial production. The weakness of domestic and foreign demand, along with the restructuring of the domestic industry due to entry into the European Union, will continue to adversely affect the level of production. Additionally, the decline in production will also be influenced by the end of the trend of strong growth in electricity production, driven by favorable weather conditions this year,” notes one of the macroeconomists.
