Data on declining industrial output in the Eurozone, published by Eurostat, has taken by surprise the analysts, which were expecting monthly increase in industrial production of 0.3%.

Among the EU Member States, the largest increases in industrial output from one month to the next were recorded in Romania (2.6%), Estonia (2.4%), Poland (2.1%) and France (2% %), writes Agerpres.

Romania ranks first in the EU and when it comes to the industrial production growth in March 2017 compared to March 2016, with an advance of 10.2%, being advanced only by Estonia, where industrial production registered an increase of 14.8%. Annual industrial production increased by 2.4% in the European Union and by 1.9% in the Euro area.

According to data published separately by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), in March 2017, the industrial production increased as compared to the previous month both as gross series and as series adjusted by the number of working days and seasonality, by 15,3% and 2.6%, respectively. Compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, it grew by 10.3% as gross series and 8.2% as series adjusted by the number of working days and seasonality. (Source: dcnews.ro)