ROME (Reuters) -Italian industrial output climbed 2.8% in September from the month before, data showed on Wednesday, offering some hope to the country’s long-struggling manufacturing sector.
A Reuters survey of 12 analysts had pointed to a 1.5% increase. The value had dropped 2.7% in August.
On a work day-adjusted year-on-year basis, industrial output rose 1.5% in September, national statistics agency ISTAT said. This compares to a forecast of an 0.5% decrease and follows a 3.0% fall in August.
Both the month-on-month and year-on-year rises in September were the steepest in at least the last two years.
Despite the positive data for September, the outlook for the industrial sector is still cloudy as third quarter output was down 0.5% from the previous three months, ISTAT said.
A purchasing managers’ survey of the manufacturing sector last week signalled stagnation in October.
Gross domestic product in the euro zone’s third largest economy stagnated in the July to September quarter from the previous three months, narrowly avoiding recession.
Rome last month marginally lowered its forecast for GDP growth this year to 0.5% from an April projection of 0.6%.
(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli, editing by Giulia Segreti)
