Economic activity in Serbia is on the rise, data for the first two months of this year show, and above all the dynamics of industrial production, was published in a new issue of Macroeconomic Analysis and Trends.
After a year-on-year stagnation in January, the production of the processing industry increased in February, so that a modest year-on-year increase was achieved in the first two months as well.
Total industrial production has a higher year-on-year increase than the processing industry due to a very high increase in electricity production.
The total industrial production in February 2021 increased by 2.6 percent year-on-year, the same amount as the increase in the period January-February.
Electricity production is in the lead
The main factor in this increase is electricity production, with a year-on-year increase of 10.2 percent in February and 11.0 percent in the first two months.
At the same time, mining production decreased by 1.5 percent, and in February by three percent.
The production of the processing industry decreased by 0.1 percent year on year in January (corrected data), increased by 1.4 percent in February, and in two months together the increase is 0.7 percent.
The seasonally adjusted index of total industrial production increased in December, January and February – by a total of seven percent.
In February, the trend level increased by two percent, and in the same period, on average by 0.6 percent per month.
Viewed by EU purpose, the values of short-term trends of all purpose categories in January and February 2021 were higher than the average of the previous year.
The trend of production of capital products and (14.5 percent) of the trend of durable consumer goods grew the fastest and advanced the furthest (15.4 percent above that average). Both have stagnated at these high levels.
There are three currently growing trends – first, according to the achieved level (10.3 percent), the trend of intermediate products, then the currently fastest growing trend of energy production (up to seven percent above last year’s average).
Currently, the trend of production of non-durable consumer goods is growing (up to 1.3 percent), but close to stagnation.
In the year-on-year comparison, in February and in the first two months of 2021, the production of durable consumer goods (by a whopping 16.6 percent and 14.1 percent) and energy (10.5 percent and 10.3 percent), as well as the production of intermediate goods increased products (by 2.6 percent and 1.8 percent). The production of non-durable consumer goods decreased (by 6.3 percent and 4.3 percent) and capital goods (by 0.7 percent and 5.2 percent).
Year-on-year, the production of the processing industry increased by 1.4 percent in February, and in the cumulative by two percent in two months.
If current trends are observed, the four areas from the group of the ten largest in terms of participation have markedly upward trends that exceeded the previous year’s average in February.
These are the food industry, the production of electrical equipment, the oil industry and the production of non-metallic mineral products, Srbija Danas reports.
