| dc.description.abstract | February 1992 saw continuing stagnation in European industrial output. In particular, in the capital goods industry, which ought to fuel the next recovery, there was a fall in output. The production index for the European Community (EUR 12), adjusted for the number of working days, is currently 119.5 (1985=100), which is 0.1 % up on the figure for February 1991. Capital goods production fell by 2.0 % during the same period. The seasonally adjusted index stood at 115.3 in February (for industry as a whole), as against 114.9 in January. A comparison between the EC and the USA and Japan shows a distinct downward trend in worldwide production of capital goods: compared with the cumulative value for the three preceding months, the seasonally adjusted production index for the three months December, January and February was down 1.6 % in EUR 12, 1.4 % in the USA and 4.0 % in Japan. The individual EC Member States, with the exception of Ireland and Greece, currently present a relatively uniform picture: the rate of change for the last three winter months compared with the cumulative figures for the 1991 autumn months was as follows (total industrial production, followed by the capital goods industry in brackets): Netherlands 3.1 % (-0.4 %) [estimated], Ireland 1.4 % (3.0 %) [estimated], France 0.7 % (-0.5 %), Denmark 0.3 % (0.3 %), Germany (West)-0.3 % (-1.8 %), Greece -0.3 % (1.6 %) [estimated], Italy -0.8 % (-3.3 %) and United Kingdom -0.9 % (-1.9 %). Thus industrial production is stagnating or declining in most EC countries, with particularly sharp falls in capi-Induslnal Production Chongo el hw men·» convex lo th· pfOoodne: Ihr·· mon·** I tal goods production in the vast majority of cases. The three months growth rate is particularly striking in the following branches: Mechanical engineering: France +1.5 %, United Kingdom -2.7 %, Germany -3.4 %, Italy -5.6 %; Car industry: Germany +2.8 %, France +0.3 %, United Kingdom -2.3 %, Italy -6.4 %. |
