By Xavier Fontdegloria
Italy's industrial production rose in April for the fifth consecutive month, exceeding February 2020 pre-pandemic levels, data released Thursday by the country's statistics office Istat showed.
The industrial production index increased 1.8% in April in seasonally-adjusted terms from the prior month, compared with an upwardly revised 0.3% monthly increase in March. April's rise is the sharpest since August 2020.
The reading is well above the 0.3% rise expected by economists polled by FactSet.
On an annual basis, Italy's industrial production surged by 79.5% in April due to the comparison with exceptionally low base in April 2020, when many factories closed amid the restrictions to contain the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy's economy, the third largest in the eurozone, expanded by 0.1% in the first quarter. Economists expect the economy to accelerate from the second quarter onward amid the progress in the vaccination campaign and the reopening of the hard-hit services sector.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-10-21 0511ET
