AlHijjah 24, 1433, Nov 9, 2012, SPA -- Italian industrial production fell 1.5 per cent on a monthly basis in September, dpa cited official figures from national statistics office Istat as showing on Friday. In August, the index had risen by 1.7 per cent. September's figures were slightly better than what economists had expected: the consensus forecast among analysts was for a 1.6-per-cent decrease. Quarterly data indicated that the rate of contraction in industrial output was slowing, suggesting that the country was getting closer to economic recovery. The index fell only by 0.1 per cent from the second to the third quarter of the year, Istat said. The previous two quarterly falls had been 2.1 per cent and 1.6 per cent. However, compared to September 2011, industrial output was still down by 4.8 per cent, whereas looking at the first nine months of 2012 the annual contraction was 6.5 per cent. Italy is undergoing a deep recession. Earlier this week, the European Commission predicted that its gross domestic product would shrink by 2.3 per cent this year and by 0.5 per cent in 2013, returning to growth only in 2014.
