BOGOTA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Colombia's industrial production increased 0.2 percent in July versus a year ago, the government said on Friday, the slowest monthly growth in industrial output this year.
Colombia, Latin America's No. 4 oil producer and a top global coal exporter, expects growth of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent this year after managing just an 0.8 percent expansion last year as it was hit by the world financial crisis.
Industrial output from January to July rose 4.9 percent compared with the same period last year, the DANE statistics agency said in a statement.
The slower growth in production in July versus July 2009 was due to negative growth in the manufacturing sector sales.
Industrial output grew 8.5 percent in June versus a year ago.
Retail sales shot up 13.8 percent in July compared with July last year while in the January to July period, they increased 10.5 percent versus the same period last year.
(Reporting by Bogota Newsroom; Editing by Diane Craft) Keywords: COLOMBIA ECONOMY/INDUSTRY (jack.kimball@thomsonreuters.com; +57-1-634-4133; Reuters Messaging: jack.kimball.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Colombia, Latin America's No. 4 oil producer and a top global coal exporter, expects growth of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent this year after managing just an 0.8 percent expansion last year as it was hit by the world financial crisis.
Industrial output from January to July rose 4.9 percent compared with the same period last year, the DANE statistics agency said in a statement.
The slower growth in production in July versus July 2009 was due to negative growth in the manufacturing sector sales.
Industrial output grew 8.5 percent in June versus a year ago.
Retail sales shot up 13.8 percent in July compared with July last year while in the January to July period, they increased 10.5 percent versus the same period last year.
(Reporting by Bogota Newsroom; Editing by Diane Craft) Keywords: COLOMBIA ECONOMY/INDUSTRY (jack.kimball@thomsonreuters.com; +57-1-634-4133; Reuters Messaging: jack.kimball.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.