Official figures show that the volume of industrial production in December was 13% lower than in the same month a year earlier.
The biggest falls were in the chemicals and electrical machinery categories, which recorded falls of 20% and 31.8% respectively. The modern sector - which includes high-technology and chemical companies - showed a fall of 12.2%, while the traditional sector fell 12.6%.
For the final quarter of 2008, production was 5.8% lower than in the the third quarter. Provisional figures for the whole of 2008 show that overall industrial production fell by 0.2%, following a 7.2% increase in 2007.
