Euro zone industrial output plunged again in January against the previous month for a fifth straight month of decline, pointing to a further contraction in the economy at the start of the year.
Industrial production in the 16 countries using the euro fell 3.5 per cent against December for a 17.3 per cent annual drop - the deepest decline since records began in 1990, the European Union's statistics office said.
“The very weak entry into the first quarter makes a huge GDP contraction extremely likely in the first quarter: our current forecast is -1.7 per cent,” Unicredit said in a research note published before the release of the data, in which the bank forecast only a 3 per cent monthly fall.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected on average a 4.0 per cent monthly decline in output and a 15.5 per cent year-on-year fall.
Eurostat said capital and intermediate goods production suffered the most, falling 6 per cent and 3.6 per cent on the month respectively for 21.4 and 24.4 per cent year-on-year declines.
Reuters