Madrid, Mar 9 (IANS): Spain's industrial production fell by 3.6 percent between January 2012 and January 2013, according to official figures.

However, on a monthly basis industrial production rate increased by 11.5 percent between December 2012 and the first month of this year, which is the highest increase over the last five years, indicated the General Industrial Production Index published by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE), reported Xinhua.

The INE report showed all sectors were affected by decreased production in annual terms, especially non-durable consumer goods, such as rubber, plastics and textiles, intermediate goods, which are goods used in the production of final goods, and energy.

There was a 5.5 percent fall in the production of non-durable consumption goods, while intermediate goods and energy suffered a 2.3 and 3.9 percent decrease respectively.

This is the third consecutive month of declines in industrial production after October had experienced a slight increase of 0.6 percent in Spain's industrial production following 13 months of consecutive declines.

INE has also published data showing an 11.3 percent rise in the creation of new businesses in Spain between January 2012 and January 2012. This is the seventh consecutive rise in the number of companies which were formed in the country, with 8,853 businesses starting in the first month of the year.

January also saw 3,482 businesses fold up, which is 12.9 percent up on the figure for January 2012.