In May 2020, industrial production sank 12.4 percent on the year, its largest decrease since the recession in 2009, when the drop was 13.3 percent.

Month-on-month decrease was 3.5 percent, thestate statistics bureau said in a report on Tuesday.

May 2020 was the seventh consecutive month in which production decreased. In April, the annual decrease was 11 percent.

In May 2020, as compared to May 2019, durable consumer goods decreased by 35.3 percent, capital goods by 17.8 percent, non-durable consumer goods by 15.8 percent and intermediate goods by 13.3 percent, while energy increased by 3.5 percent.

In the first five months of 2020, industrial production decreased 7.4 percent on the year.

Commenting on the report, Raiffeisenbank Austria analysts said they expected a sharp decrease in industrial production this year and did not rule out two-digit year-on-year decreases.

Consequently, the recovery of the Croatian economy will be relatively slower in relation to economies which are more diversified and/or are more reliant on higher added value industries, they said.

The sharp production decrease is a consequence of the coronavirus lockdown which went into force in the second half of March and was relaxed as of late April.

The lockdown slowed down economic growth in the first quarter already, with GDP going up only 0.4% year on year, the slowest increase since Q3 2014.

A sharp economic downturn is expected in Q2, followed by a recession.

Six analysts recently polled by Hina said they expected GDP to drop in Q2 between 15 percent and 25 percent on the year. The highest GDP decrease to date was recorded in Q1 2009 (8.8 percent), at the beginning of the financial crisis.