Romania: Industrial production continues expansion

According to the Statistical Institute, the healthy reading came on the back of strong growth in the manufacturing and the mining and quarrying sectors, whereas steam and air conditioning, electricity and gas output contracted slightly.

On a seasonally- and working-day adjusted month-on-month basis, industrial production jumped 3.7% in December, following a much softer 1.0% expansion in November.

Meanwhile, annual average growth in industrial production improved on November’s strong showing of 7.9%, ramping up to 8.2% in December—a multi-year high.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect industrial production to expand 4.6% in 2018, which is up 0.3 percentage points from last month’s estimate. The panel predicts that industrial output will increase 3.9% in 2019. ■