(AFP) The manufacturing output in June fell 9.9 percent year-on-year due to contraction in the manufacturing and mining sectors, and shrank 6.8 percent from May, the Statistics Department said today.

The export-driven economy is feeling the effects of the global slowdown and 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 annual industrial output decline in June was largely due to a 13.2 percent year-on-year fall in the manufacturing index and four percent decline in mining sector.

Output for the first six months dropped 0.7 percent year-on-year, also due largely to the fall in the manufacturing sector.

Expanding sectors

The electricity and mining sectors expanded in the six months to June, with their indices rising 7.9 percent and 2.5 percent year-on-year respectively.

On a quarterly basis, industrial output fell 5.2 percent year-on-year in the second quarter and slipped 3.4 percent from the first quarter.

The contraction of the manufacturing sector was the main contributor to lower industrial output in the three months to June. The sector shrank eight percent year-on-year.

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