Global growth in manufacturing slows down

A United Nations report said Friday that global manufacturing slowed to 1.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 due in part to the recession in Europe. Manufacturing growth from the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011 was the lowest annual growth rate in the past three years, said the report by the U.N .Industrial Development Organization. In developed countries, manufacturing fell by 1.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. In developing countries, manufacturing expanded by 7.6 percent, the report said. By the fourth quarter of 2012, the decline in manufacturing in Europe had spread from a few countries to across the continent, a U.N. statement said. In France, manufacturing declined 3.9 percent, in Germany 2.9 percent and in Italy 6.9 percent, the report said. In Britain, manufacturing declined 1.8 percent.