ROME: Italian industrial output was weaker than expected in September, falling 1.3 percent after a rise of 1.2 percent in August but the third quarter as a whole still posted a healthy increase, data showed on Friday.

September’s 1.3 percent drop compared with a forecast of -0.3 percent in a Reuters’ survey of 21 analysts and was the steepest decline since January, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported.

However, it followed four consecutive monthly increases and in the third quarter output was still up 1.5 percent from the previous three months.

That suggests Italy’s economic recovery probably remains on track and augurs well for third quarter gross domestic product data to be released on Nov. 14.

Italian industrial output normally shows a correlation with trends in GDP, which rose 0.3 percent in the second quarter, slowing from a 0.5 percent increase between January and March.

Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said this week he expected a return to 0.5 percent GDP growth in the third quarter.

Industrial output fell by around a quarter between 2008 and 2014, and has recovered only a small part of that during the last two years.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s government forecasts GDP growth of 1.5 this year, which would be Italy’s strongest rate since 2010, but would still leave it in its customary position among the most sluggish economies in the euro zone.

Industrial output of investment goods, intermediate goods and energy products all fell steeply in September from the month before, partly offset by an increase in consumer goods.

On a work-day adjusted year-on-year basis, output was up 2.4 percent, following a 5.8 percent rise in August, which was marginally revised from an originally reported 5.7 percent.—Reuters