Here’s a painful surprise: Industrial production unexpectedly sank 3.8% in October from the previous month across the 17-country euro zone, suggesting the recession is worsening and most countries are getting dragged down. Across the 27 European Union countries, industrial production declined 1.5% from September—more than expected. Eurostat monthly numbers showed industrial production falling in fourteen European countries with the biggest monthly declines (for which data is available) in:
Estonia (-5.3%), the Netherlands (-4.7%), Slovakia (-3.9%) and Germany (-2.4%).
And the biggest gains in:
Portugal (+4.8%), Ireland (+2.7%) and Poland (+1.9%).
Looking at year on year figures, production of durable consumer goods fell by 6.0% in the euro zone and by 4.0% in the 27-country EU. Here thirteen countries in Europe (for which data is available) saw declines:
Ireland (-16.2%), Italy (-6.2%), Bulgaria (-4.2%), the Netherlands and Portugal (both -3.9%), and Germany (-3.8%).
The biggest increases were in:
Lithuania (+10.3%), Slovakia (+8.1%) and Malta (+4.5%). Read the full report here.