Croatia's industrial output increased by 2.7 percent in October 2021 on an annual level, continuing its upward trend for 11 straight months, which indicates further recovery of production and the entire economy from the coronavirus crisis.

The state statistics bureau said on Tuesday that industrial production in October 2021 had risen by 1.9 percent compared with the previous month and by 2.7 percent compared with October 2020. This was slower growth than in September 2021, when it had increased by 2.8 percent on an annual level.

The annual growth was recorded in four of five sectors. Energy production grew the most, by 10.4 percent, followed by production of durable consumer goods (+8.7 percent), capital goods (+3.7 percent) and non-durable consumer goods (+3.4 percent), while production of intermediate goods fell by 3.1 percent.

After falling by 3.4 percent in 2020 on account of the coronavirus crisis, in the first ten months of 2021 industrial production rose by 7.1 percent compared with the corresponding period of last year.

The continued growth of industrial production and other macroeconomic data indicate further recovery of the national economy from the coronavirus crisis.

In the third quarter of 2021, GDP jumped by 15.8 percent on an annual level, following a record rise of 16.5% in the second quarter. Initial macroeconomic indicators show that the growth continued at the start of the fourth quarter.

The level of business optimism in the industrial sector indicates a slowdown, with labor shortages and financial constraints seen as limiting factors. On the other hand, the recovery of external demand and the effect of last year’s low base are expected to support the continuation of a solid recovery of the volume of industrial production this year, analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comment.