Car plant holidays push Slovak output below fcast

...Monday 
showed, but analysts said output was likely to rebound. 
    Industrial output rose by a real 5.7 percent in August, down 
from revised growth of 17.3 percent in July and below analysts' 
forecast of 10.5 percent. The August figure was the smallest 
rise since April 2006. 
    Manufacturing production, which has the strongest weighting 
in the index, increased by 8.1 percent on the year in August, 
after a 13.5 percent increase in the previous month.  
    Within manufacturing output, car production rose by 12.4 
percent on the year, after a 49.0 percent growth in July. 
    The Statistics Office said a higher base from 2006 was also 
behind the overall slowdown. 
    "Summer months are traditionally used by the car industry 
for retooling and general maintenance work, thus the slowdown in 
that sector should not be a surprise," said Piotr Matys, a 4Cast 
analyst in London. 
    The automotive industry, centred around assembly plants of 
Volkswagen , PSA Peugeot Citroen  and Kia 
Motors  and their suppliers, is the main driver of 
Slovakia's economy and its swings influence the country's entire 
economic performance. 
    "The (August slowdown) is a one-off phenomenon, and we 
expect industrial output to return to double digit growth again 
from September," said Eduard Hagar, an ING Bank analyst in 
Bratislava. 
    Slovakia's industrial output had shown double digit growth 
in the first seven months of 2007. 
    The country has enjoyed one of the highest economic growth 
rates in the European Union in the past few years thanks to 
foreign investors attracted by low taxes and rising household 
spending after years of belt-tightening reforms. 
    Gross domestic product growth is forecast to beat last 
year's record of 8.3 percent in 2007. 
 

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]