Industrial turnover, orders post unprecedented drop
Industrial turnover and new orders have been showing an unprecedented decline since the start of the year, confirming that the sector is in recession. National Statistics Service (NSS) data issued yesterday showed that new orders dropped by 35.5 percent in February compared to the same month last year, while turnover contracted by 25.6 percent year-on-year. This comes on top of a 30.4 percent decline in turnover and a 36.9 percent drop in orders in January from the same month in 2008. The NSS had announced earlier that industrial production shrank by 4.6 percent in February on an annual basis. A key factor is the drop in oil prices, with energy turnover sliding by 45.9 percent in February.