NSO survey shows shrinkage in manufacturing industry
A sample survey among manufacturing enterprises carried out by the NSO in the fourth quarter of last year showed a 13% slide in sales. Investment and jobs were also down.
The NSO said sales by the sampled manufacturing enterprises stood at €513.5 million, a decrease of 12.8 per cent when compared to the corresponding period in 2007. The decrease was mainly due to lower sales by the Radio, TV and Communication Equipment and the Chemicals and Chemical Products sectors. Lower sales were also registered by the Publishing and Printing, the Rubber and Plastic Products and the Furniture and Manufacturing sectors.
Higher sales were registered by the Electrical Machinery and Apparatus and the Other Non-metallic Mineral Products sectors.
Export-oriented enterprises generated €394.6 million or 76.8 per cent of the surveyed sales for this period.
At the end of December 2008, employment in the sampled enterprises stood at 17,094, a decrease of 590 over the previous year. The decrease was mostly in the Radio, TV and Communication Equipment sector, with a drop of 284 employees.
Investment in the sampled enterprises amounted to €32.0 million, a decrease of €5.7 million over the comparative period in 2007.
The NSO said last week that GDP in the last quarter of 2008 shrank by 1.2%.
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L..Galea
Mar 18th 2009, 15:00
I.Cilia
p.s
The figures confirmed what you said was hearsay evidence and peoples perceptions.
L..Galea
Mar 18th 2009, 14:58
I.Cilia
No on in his proper senses would continue to deny that we were in recession.
The figures only confirm the extent of the recession if they are correct at all, for we have become accustomed to figures being reviewed even after years to make the situation look better than it actually is or was.
Just wait for the tourism figures to be published.
Would you be surprised if figures for the tourism sector for last year will show a contraction of 50% in the last quarter?
I.Cilia
Mar 18th 2009, 13:48
to all the bloggers
These are the official figures, which are required to understand the actual situation Malta is in...
If these figures are not published, one cannot argue that Malta is really suffering and that the manufacturing industry is really shrinking..
All those that in their comments said that they all knew and all the rest of the stupid gibberish, I ask how do you people know the actual figures...
if maybe you people do not care about figures, you can be sure that others do.... Figures makes it official... without figures it is pure hearsay and people perception...
L..Galea
Mar 18th 2009, 13:05
jcmicallef
They also discovered that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
That earth has gravity.
That we are being invaded by an alien culture from further South not from space.
Dusty Williams
Mar 18th 2009, 12:36
Mela nistaw naghtuh il flus li rebah tal imhatra li ghamel lis sur Austin Gatt.
Miriam Calleja
Mar 18th 2009, 12:31
As if we needed the NSO to tell us this. All of Malta - with the fidtinct exception of PM Dr Gonzi and Minister Tonio Fenech - knew this. But some ostriches are known to prefer burying their heads in the sand rather than see and hear what's around them.
jcmicallef
Mar 18th 2009, 12:17
NSO also discovered that:
the world is 100% round (elliptical, to be exact)
that the sun has risen (and set) 365 times over the past year
and that the Sea is 100% wet.
Adrian Camilleri
Mar 18th 2009, 11:40
Wow! Surprise Surprise. Our tax money at work to discover the blindingly obvious.
This one is up there with:
"NSO survey finds that Malta is predominantly Roman Catholic" or "NSO survey finds that Maltese believe that the sky is blue".