“The country’s industrial sector has started the new year successfully. In January, the manufacturing output, excluding petroleum products, rose by 8.5 percent compared with the same period a year before. However, Lithuania’s manufacturing sector is relatively small and tends to fluctuate strongly on a monthly basis, therefore the result for January is not too informative in itself. Still, the trends observed in recent months seem favorable enough,” he said in comments issued on Friday.
Last year, the country’s manufacturing sector showed “unexpected viability”, he said adding that this year the growth might decelerate somewhat.
“Slower growth will continue on the key export markets and Lithuania’s economic growth will decelerate somewhat. Long-term growth of exports might be more affected by the shortage of investments and skilled labor, which is growing gradually. However, the situation in 2013 will not be radically worse than last year hence we may expect the year to be rather successful for our industrialists,” Bancevičius projected.
Lithuania’s industrial output and sales rose by 9.3 percent in January compared with a year ago, to 6.444 billion litas (EUR 1.87b), Statistics Lithuania said earlier on Friday.
Adjusted for workday, the output grew by 8 percent last month, the office said.
In January compared with December, the country’s industrial output and sales increased by 2 percent. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the output grew by 4.4 percent.
