Belarus: Industrial production falls again in March
Industrial production slid 1.5% on an annual basis in March, deteriorating from February’s 0.8% fall and marking the third consecutive month of declining output. As a result, industrial output shrank 2.7% year-on-year in Q1 2020 (Q4 2019: + 1.9%).
The overall downturn was mostly driven by a deterioration in the all-important manufacturing sector, where activity contracted in March following February’s modest expansion. In a similar fashion, water supply, and waste management and remediation activities shrank in March. That said, activity in the mining and quarrying, and electricity, gas, steam, hot water and conditioning supply sectors edged up at the end of Q1, softening the overall decline somewhat.
Meanwhile, annual average growth in industrial production edged down to an over three-year low of 0.1% in March, from 0.3% in February.