Spanish Industrial Production Falls Least in More Than a Year
Spain’s industrial production fell the least in more than a year in October as government stimulus measures bolstered demand for cars even as unemployment continued to climb.
Output at factories, refineries and mines fell 9.2 percent from a year earlier, adjusted for the number of working days, the least since September of last year, after slipping a revised 12.7 percent the previous month, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said today in an e-mailed statement.
Spain’s economy has been in recession since the second quarter of last year and will continue to contract in 2010, the International Monetary Fund forecasts. Facing the highest unemployment rate in the euro region, the Socialist government has put in place stimulus measures, including public construction projects and incentives for car purchases, which amount to more than 2 percent of gross domestic product.
New car registrations, a proxy for sales, rose 37 percent from a year earlier in November, after climbing 26 percent in October, according to the Madrid-based automobile group ANFAC no fax pay day loan. Under the car-purchase program, the central government provides as much as 500 euros ($754) which regional administrations can match, and automakers offer a 1,000-euro discount. Vehicle production fell 3.8 percent compared with declines of 54 percent recorded in January and February this year.
Spanish manufacturers are also benefiting from the economic recovery in the euro region, which emerged from recession and expanded 0.4 percent in the third quarter.
Madrid-based Acerinox SA, the world’s biggest stainless steelmaker, posted its first quarterly profit in 15 months in the third quarter as customers replenished falling stockpiles. The company expects demand to climb 6 percent to 10 percent next year, it said on Oct. 28.
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