It was the third straight three-month period of growth and the strongest pace of expansion since the third quarter of 2012. Within services, output was driven by: Wholesale and retail trade (4.7 percent from 0.2 percent in Q1); real estate activities (2.7 percent from -0.9 percent); transportation and storage (3.7 percent from 3.3 percent); information and communication activities (4.1 percent from -2.3 percent); financial and insurance activities (2.7 percent from 0.1 percent); and administrative and related additional services (2.2 percent from -1 percent).
Also, industrial production contributed positively to growth with all categories expanding: Mining (4.6 percent from 4.1 percent in Q1); manufacturing (1.2 percent from 1 percent); construction (2.8 percent from -4.5 percent); electricity, gas and steam, air conditioning (2 percent from 0.9 percent); and water supply, water disposal, organization of waste collection and disposal, pollution control activities (0.9 percent from -3.7 percent).
Agriculture advanced slightly by 0.1 percent after contracting by 0.9 percent in the first quarter.
In the first half of the year GDP rose 1.5 percent, compared with a 0.5 percent contraction in the same period of 2016.
The central bank expects economic growth at 1.3 to 1.8 percent in 2017.