Overall industrial production records largest increase since 2003

EVEN though there was a 2.8% decline in the volume of industrial production for manufacturing industries in the fourth quarter of last year, growth in industry as a whole during 2006 measured 4.6%, the best increase since 2003.

Latest industrial production and turnover figures, released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed a 2.8% drop in industrial production in the last three months of 2006 compared to the previous quarter. However, on a year-on-year basis production for all industries was 15.2% ahead in December.

The ‘modern’ sector — comprising a number of hi-tech and chemical sectors — showed an annual increase in production for December of 22.1%, while an increase of 0.6% was recorded in the ‘traditional’ sector.