(AFP) The manufacturing output in May fell 6.6 percent year-on-year and shrank by 0.2 percent from the previous month, the Statistics Department said today.

The export-driven economy is feeling the effects of the global slowdown.

Most analysts predict the economy will grow by less than half the 8.5 percent rate of last year.

The preliminary figures were contained in the department's monthly index of industrial production. The index also measures mining (including oil and gas production) and electricity generation.

The department said in a statement the overall index dipped 3.7 percent year-on-year in May, with mining expanding 5.6 percent and electricity generation by 9.9 percent.

The overall index rose 0.5 percent from April, backed by gains of 1.1 percent in mining and 5.5 percent in electricity.

In the first five months of the year, overall industrial output was up 1.3 percent from a year earlier, with all indices showing an increase.

The government in March revised downwards its economic growth forecast this year to between five and six percent, from seven percent previously. The economy grew 8.5 percent last year.