Industrial output up by 4.1 per cent in February 2018

Hungarian industrial output rose by 4.1 percent in February compared with the same month a year earlier, a preliminary release of data by the Central Statistical Office on Friday showed.

The figure was the same according to unadjusted and working day-adjusted data.

Output in February rose after a 6.9 percent unadjusted and a 6.7 percent workday-adjusted increase in the previous month.

In a month-on-month comparison, industrial output rose by 0.5 percent in February after increasing by 1.5 percent in January, adjusted for seasonal and working-day effects.

Commenting on the figures, the deputy state secretary in charge of industrial strategy and economic regulations said that industrial output had developed favourably and in line with expectations. The figures make Hungary the best performer among the Visegrád Group countries, Gyula Pomázi said. He added that he expects further increase in industrial output, with investment support and the transfer of European Union funding to help investments for capacity expansion and well-balanced industrial growth.

Analyst Péter Virovácz of ING Bank told MTI that he expected industrial output growth to accelerate further in the coming months as new capacities are added. He forecast 8 percent output growth for the full year 2018.

Gergely Suppán of Takarékbank forecast 7 percent output growth in 2018 compared with 4.8 percent last year.

Dávid Németh of K and H Bank put full-year industrial output growth at 5 percent in 2018.

Source: MTI