In March 2006, the Capital Goods’ Index for total industrial new orders increased by 17.1 per cent, compared to the same period of the previous year, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

For the same sector, the domestic new orders index was down from 74.78 in March 2005 to 73.39 in March 2006, a fall of 1.9 per cent.

On the other hand, capital goods in the export new orders’ table shows an increase of 21.4 per cent, from 219.41 in March 2005 to 266.29 in March 2006.

The index for consumer durable goods in the total industrial new orders registered an increase of 82.9 per cent, from 45.37 in March 2005 to 82.96 in March 2006.

For the same sector, the domestic new orders index decreased by 16.3, while the export new orders’ index increased by 12.4.

For the total industrial new orders, consumer non-durable goods show an increase of 23.8 per cent over March 2005. In the same period, the domestic new orders index shows an increase of 2.1 per cent, while the export new orders index shows a fall of 5.8 per cent.

During March 2006, the intermediate goods’ sector for total industrial new orders shows a reduction of 9.8 per cent, from 77.5 per cent in March 2005 to 69.88 per cent in March 2006.

For the same sector, the domestic new orders’ index registered an increase of 9.7 per cent, from 294.77 in March 2005 to 323.28 in March 2006.

In the export new orders, there is a reduction of 14.1 per cent, from 71.64 to 61.52, in March 2006.

When compared to March 2005, the index for total industry registered a reduction of 0.3 per cent in the total industrial new orders and a fall of 10.5 per cent in the domestic new orders’ index.

For the same sector, the export new orders’ index increased by 1.2 per cent, compared with the same period last year.