Seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 2.0% over the previous quarter and by 6.2% over the fourth quarter of 2016.

High growth of exports and imports continues

As in the previous quarters of 2017, in the last quarter, too, we observed high growth of exports and imports. Exports increased by 12.3%: exports of goods went up by 13.6%. Imports increased by 11.1%; imports of goods went up by 12.1%. Growth of imports and exports of services was lower; export of services increased by 7.0% and import of services by 5.5%.

Domestic consumption is also on the rise

Domestic consumption increased by 4.5% in the last quarter of 2017. Significant increase was observed in both components of domestic consumption: final consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital formation. Final consumption expenditure went up by 3.8% and gross fixed capital formation by 7.7%. The most important component of final consumption expenditure is household final consumption; it increased by 3.3%.

Accelerated growth of gross fixed capital formation

In the fourth quarter of 2017 we observed substantial growth of gross fixed capital formation; it increased by 11.9%. Positive impact on gross fixed capital formation growth came from construction investment and gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment. Gross fixed capital formation in construction increased by 18.2%, of which investment in non-residential buildings was more significant. It increased by 21.7%, which is similar growth as in the beginning of 2017, while in mid-2017 the growth rates were somewhat lower (between 6% and 15%). Investment in residential buildings went up by 9.4%, which is higher growth than in the previous quarters of 2017 when growth rates were between 4.9% and 8.5%.

Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment increased by 8.2%, which is similar growth as in the previous quarter and somewhat lower than in the first half of 2017. At that time gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment increased between 9.5% and 12.5%.

GDP increased by 5% in 2017

GDP at current prices amounted to EUR 43,278 million, which is nominally by 7.1% more than in 2016. In volume terms GDP increased by 5.0%.

As in 2016, external demand was the key generator of economic growth; exports increased by 10.6%. Domestic demand has an increasingly significant role (increase by 4.0%), in the scope of which private consumption increased by 3.2%.

Total employment in 2016 amounted to 986,000 persons and increased by 2.8% or 27,000 persons over 2016.



Notes

Unless otherwise specified, all comparisons in this text refer to original data, to volume or real changes and to changes compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

More detailed data

More detailed data including time series are available in the SI-STAT Database.