WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland's industrial production dropped 4.4 percent in December over the same month last year, government statistics showed Tuesday, the latest sign the global crisis is squeezing the once-booming economy.
The figures mark the second consecutive month industrial output has fallen in Poland, the largest of the new European Union members. In November, output was down 8.9 percent over November 2007.
It "looks and feels like a manufacturing crisis," Danske Bank chief analyst Lars Christensen said in a statement. He said it increases the likelihood the central bank will continue to cut interest rates.
Tuesday's numbers, released by the state statistics bureau, were worse than economists had expected. They show industrial output down by 4.4 percent year on year, and down 3.7 percent over the previous month. The bureau did not release year-end figures.
Meanwhile, the Economy Ministry said that foreign direct investment in Poland was down by 27.5 percent -- at euro11.5 million ($15.2 million) -- between January and November of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier.
Amid the global crisis, many investors have pulled money from emerging markets to put them in countries considered safer havens.
Christensen said that lower industrial output has put pressure on the currency, the zloty, which has weakened considerably in past months against the euro and dollar.
Poland is the largest of 10 ex-communist countries in eastern Europe that joined the European Union in recent years and enjoyed high growth since joining in 2004.
