Quarterly national accounts
Gross Domestic Product up by 0.9% in volume
- 2nd Quarter 2006
08 September 2006
Summary
In the second quarter of 2006, the yearly change in the Portuguese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 0.9%, in real terms, decelerating slightly from the previous period. The change from the first quarter was similar (0.9%). Growth of exports of goods and services continued to be high in volume (7.6%). This, in parallel with the deceleration in imports of goods and services, reflected the significant contribution of net external demand to GDP growth (2.6 percentage points). In turn, domestic demand declined by 1.5%, in real terms, vis-à-vis the same period of the previous year, which was due to a fall in investment, but also to a deceleration in final consumption expenditure of resident households. This behaviour may have been influenced by the base effects associated with early purchases in the second quarter of 2005 in anticipation of the forthcoming increase in the VAT standard rate.