The country's manufacturing sector recorded a stable performance in February, with the seasonally adjusted NCB Purchasing Managers' index rising to 49.7 last month from 48.3 in January.
Any figure over 50 signals growth in the manufacturing industry, while a figure below 50 signals contraction.
NCB noted that output rose marginally last month while new business was mostly unchanged. On the price front, input cost inflation accelerated for the third month in a row.
The index for February shows that the manufacturing index rose marginally last month after falling in the previous three months. New orders were stable, also ending three months of reductions in a row. New business from abroad was also stable, but this followed slight growth in January.
Input price inflation accelerated last month and the pace was the fastest since June 2011. This was due to higher raw material costs and the weakness of the euro.
But despite this rise, companies continued to lower their output prices. Charges have now decreased every month since August 2011 and the rate of decline last month was sharper than that in January.
The index also revealed that staffing levels were lowered at a marginal pace for the second month in a row, while backlogs of work decreased sharply.
