2  BIS Review 70/2004  With deteriorating competitiveness and the unfavourable trend in exports, industrial production recorded no increase between the second quarter of 2003 and the third quarter of 2004; in the euro area as a whole it grew by 2.8 per cent.
Compared with the average for 2000, in September industrial production was down in Italy by 2.8 per cent; in the euro area, it showed an increase of 2.5 per cent. In the fist half of this year Italian investment recouped the decline registered in 2003. The most substantial increase was in investment in machinery, equipment and transport equipment.