IOBE: Industrial production increased by 5% in March – Strong weakening of business expectations

The IOBE monthly development bulletin shows a strong weakening of business expectations in the industry. In particular, the index of business expectations in the industry fell in April this year to 108.8 (from 117.1 points in March), significantly higher than the corresponding level last year (99.8 points), but remained at a historically high level.

At the same time, industrial production increased by 5.0% in March compared to February. An increase of 8.2% (yoy) was recorded in Greece, compared to a marginal increase of 0.6% in the EU27, while the growth of industrial exports continued by 26.7% in February (yoy), with an increase in the trade deficit to 3.7 billion. from 1.7 billion euros a year ago.

According to IOBE, in March, there was an increase in electricity costs by 27.9% compared to the previous month, while it is noted that it remains at higher levels than other European markets.

It is noted that in the whole of 2021 employment in Industry increased by 5.0% or by 18.9 thousand people (from 382.2 thousand to 401.2 thousand) compared to a year ago. During the same period, employment in the economy as a whole increased by 1.4% or by 52.5 thousand people (to 3,928.0 thousand from 3,875.5 thousand). In the fourth quarter of 2021, employment in industry increased by 13.2% (to 420.7 thousand people) compared to a year ago, compared to an increase of 4.5% in the economy as a whole. The labor cost index in manufacturing recorded a marginal increase, 0.2% in the whole of 2021 (at 109.2 points). The fourth quarter of 2021 fell 3.5% (to 106.1 points from 109.9 points in the fourth quarter of 2020) following a rise of 1.1% in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.