Romania’s industry enters 2019 in a low mood

Romania’s industrial production registered a modest increase in January on stagnant output in the key-manufacturing sector.

The industrial production rose by 0.7 percent year-on-year in January as the production in manufacturing, the largest sector of Romania’s industry, was almost flat (+0.1 percent year-on-year), mining and quarrying increased by 1.2 percent, while energy output increased by 3.2 percent.

Experts expect a quasi-stagnation of the Romanian industry this year. “With the Eurozone’s largest economy continuing to disappoint, we remain cautious on the growth prospects of the Romanian industry and maintain our view for quasi-stagnation in 2019,” ING Bank analysts said on Wednesday.

These figures come after a unexpected drop of 0.8 percent in December of the Romanian industrial production, on lower output in key-manufacturing sector and large decline in mining and quarrying.

Compared with December, the industrial output dropped by 1.6 percent in January as series adjusted by number of working days and seasonality, National Institute of Statistics (INS) data showed on Wednesday.

In 2018, Romania’s industrial production rose by 3.5 percent, a much lower rate that the official estimate of 4.5 percent.

The industry account for almost one quarter of Romania’s GDP and this poor performance has had an impact on the 2018 GDP value.

The first official estimate regarding Romania’s 2018 performance showed an increase of 4.1 percent and a GDP value much lower than the governments forecast.