Releasing fresh figures on Thursday, the Statistics Office noted the robust growth in domestic expenditure. This grew at an annual rate of 5.3%, the same pace as in the first quarter of 2017 and the fastest rate since 2008.

The most prominent increase was in gross capital formation, which expanded at an annual rate of 14.7%, half a percentage point faster than in the same period a year ago. This time an increase in inventories contributed as much as 1.3 percentage points to GDP growth.

Gross fixed capital formation went up by 9.1%, similar to the growth rates seen thorough 2017. Construction investment expanded by 12.6%, thanks to 15.6% growth in investment in non-residential buildings.

Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment increased by 7.5%; similar growth was observed in gross fixed capital formation in transport equipment (by 7.3%) and in gross fixed capital formation in other machinery and equipment (by 7.7%).

The final consumption expenditure increased by 2.6%. Of this household consumption expenditure increased by 3.4%, a slowdown of 0.3 percentage points compared to the first quarter a year ago.

The external trade balance had a negative contribution to GDP growth (-0.2 points) as the growth in imports, at 8.7%, outpaced the growth in exports, at 7.4%.

As expected, the first quarter of the year thus saw a slow-down in economic activity after a 6% year-on-year real growth in GDP in the final quarter of 2017.

The seasonally adjusted growth in GDP, which is a measure used by Eurostat, rose at a quarterly rate of 1.9% and an annual rate of 6% in the final quarter of 2017, according to updated statistics.

Still, economic activity remains strong, which is also reflected in employment figures; in the first quarter of this year the number of employees rose by 3% year-on-year to 997,941. Most new jobs opened in manufacturing, construction, transport and trade.