Slower increases were recorded for manufacturing (+0.6 percent vs +1.6 percent in Q1) and services (+0.5 percent vs +1.1 percent), and contractions in primary activity (-2.8 percent vs +6.0 percent) and construction (-3.1 percent vs +2.1 percent), more than offsetting a sharp rebound in utilities (+9.4 percent vs -7.0 percent).
By expenditure, the softer overall growth was explained by a sharp 2.9 percent decline in gross fixed capital formation (vs +2.0 percent), with facilities falling 5.7 percent (vs +3.4 percent); construction 2.1 percent (vs +1.8 percent); and intellectual property rights 0.7 percent (vs +0.3 percent). Also, final consumption expenditure expanded less (0.3 percent after a 1.1 percent expansion in the first quarter), with both private and public spending rising 0.3 percent. Meantime, exports grew only 0.4 percent (vs +4.4 percent) and imports declined 3.0 percent (vs +4.9 percent).
Year-on-year, the economy expanded 2.8 percent, matching the 2.8 percent growth recorded for the previous quarter and slightly below the 2.9 percent preliminary expansion and the final consensus estimate.