Slovak industry grew by 8.4% year-on-year (y/y) in January after revised growth of 6.5% y/y in December, the Slovak Statistical Office (SUSR) said Friday.
"In January, an 8.4% year-on-year increase in industrial production was influenced by a rise in manufacturing by 9.1 %, in electricity, gas and water supply by 4.7 % and by a decrease in mining and quarrying by 0.7 %," the SUSR said.
Industrial output was affected mainly by the manufacture of transport equipment, which increased by 37.9% y/y from 17.8% in December, the SUSR aid.
"After a big disappointment in December, January's figures showed higher-than-expected growth of industrial production," Komercni banka (KB) analyst Miroslav Frayer said.
Separately, the SUSR said that Slovak construction output grew by 14.1% y/y to SKK 10.6 bln in January following a two-month fall.
"The production development under favorable conditions was influenced significantly by enterprises employing 20 people or more (a rise of 25.3 %)," SUSR said.
Construction works in new construction, modernization and reconstruction was up by 12.3% y/y in January, and in repairs and maintenance by 14.9% y/y.
The volume of construction work abroad increased by 52.9% y/y. Seasonally-adjusted building output grew by 17% month-on-month.
Interfax