Russian industrial output grows 2% in March, below forecast
MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - Industrial output in Russia grew 2% year-on-year in March, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported on Monday.
This figure is significantly below analysts' expectations. The consensus forecast compiled by Interfax at the beginning of April stood at 5.4%.
Compared to February, industrial output was up 7%. With the exclusion of seasonality and the calendar factor, it was down 1.2%.
The last time a comparable drop in monthly industrial output was recorded was in February of last year (-0.9%). Afterwards, industrial output was down for several months, in the range of 0.1%-0.3%.
In the first quarter of this year, industrial output grew 4% compared to the same period of last year.
In annualized terms, industrial output rose 5.3% in March 2011 and 5.9% in Q1. Net month-on-month growth was 1.6% in March of last year.
In April, Russia's Economic Development Ministry lowered its forecast for 2012 industrial production growth from 3.6% to 3.1%.