May 30 (SeeNews) - Croatia's annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth picked up to a real 2.5% in the first quarter from 2.2% in the preceding quarter, a flash estimate released by the country's State Statistics Office on Wednesday showed.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, Croatia's economy expanded by 1.5% year-on-year in the three months through March, and by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the annual growth rate was at 2.3%, while on a quarterly comparison basis the rate of economic expansion was at the level recorded in the third quarter.
The largest positive contribution to the GDP volume change in the first quarter of 2018 was a result of an increase in expenditures in the category of final consumption expenditures of households, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
Final consumption expenditure rose by 3.6% in the first quarter, up from 3.4% in the final quarter of 2017, while the growth of gross fixed capital formation accelerated to 3.6% from 1.9%.
Growth in household consumption picked up to 3.9% from 3.5% and that of the general government edged down to 2.8% from 3.4%.
By industry, information and communication achieved the highest growth rate - of 4.8%, up from 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Gross domestic product, according to the expenditure approach, real growth rates:
|
Q1'18 |
Q4'17 |
Q1'17 |
Final consumption expenditure |
3.6 |
3.4 |
3.1 |
- Households |
3.9 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
- Non-profit institutions serving households |
4.3 |
1.6 |
3.2 |
- General govt |
2.8 |
3.4 |
2.0 |
Gross fixed capital formation |
3.6 |
1.9 |
6.1 |
Exports of goods and services |
-0.5 |
3.8 |
10.6 |
- Goods |
-1.5 |
5.3 |
16.6 |
- Services |
2.1 |
2.8 |
3.5 |
Imports of goods and services |
5.5 |
6.8 |
11.7 |
- Goods |
4.5 |
4.5 |
11.3 |
- Services |
11.2 |
16.7 |
13.9 |
Real GDP |
2.5 |
2.2 |
2.9 |
The statistics office said it will publish detailed first-quarter GDP data on June 1.