Russian industrial production further down
Industrial production in Russia in December last year declined another 10,3 percent. In all of 2008, industrial production grew only 2,1 percent, which is the worst result in ten years.
The December downturn came after a 8,7 percent decline in November. The negative results severely hampered 2008 results. Russian industrial growth in the course of the year amounted to only 2,1 percent, which is the lowest in ten years, newspaper Vedomosti reports.
The sector worst hit is the processing industry, which in December produced 13,2 percent less than in the same period last year. Also the mining industry and the production and transport of electricity, gas and water was down with respectively 2,3 percent and 6,1 percent, the Russian Statistical Service (Rosstat) informs.
The forestry sector in December was down 20 percent.
Analysts now fear a further downturn in production. As BarentsObserver reported last week, railway transport in the first three weeks of 2009 dropped with as much as 36 percent year-on-year, a figure which illustrates the lower production figures.
