The country's industrial output contracted 1.9 per cent<br/>in October this year. This was mainly due to a sharp decline in the production of capital goods, and poor performance of the manufacturing sector. <br/><br/>Factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, IIP, had grown 0.7 per cent in September this year, and 9.9 per cent in October last year.<br/> <br/>Data released by the Central Statistics Office showed that the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the IIP index, shrank 2.4 per cent in October, while capital goods output contracted 25.9 per cent. <br/><br/>Mining sector output declined 3.1 per cent, but power generation increased 1.1 per cent in October.