Industrial output growth pace drops to 6.7% in August

The growth pace of the industrial output dropped to 6.7% in August, from over 10% in the previous three months. However, the growth pace remains at a level, which could allow a 7% increase to be achieved for the whole year, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. "It is alright and in line with estimates, if we are talking about an annual growth rate. One can take into account that industrial production contributes again to the GDP," said Lucian Liviu Albu, general manager of the Forecasting Institute of the Romanian Academy. According to the National Forecasting Commission, industrial output is to go up 6.1% this year. In the first eight months, industrial production had a growth pace of almost 7%, close to that of economic growth in the first six months of this year, which reached 7.4%. Rec ently, government officials estimated that gross domestic product could increase by over 8% this year, predominantly driven by the farming and construction sectors. In 2005, industrial production grew 2% against a 4.1% growth of the GDP.