Economic activity recorded a 2.1% growth in gross domestic product in volume terms (seasonally adjusted) in the first three months of 2023, compared to the first quarter of 2022.
This is a slight improvement compared to the previous quarter (1.8%), according to the preliminary estimates of the quarterly national accounts published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
On a quarter-on-quarter basis (i.e. in relation to the fourth and last quarters of 2022), the volume of GDP increased by 0.8%, while it had increased by almost the same percentage in the previous quarter (0.7%).
Despite prevailing inflationary pressures, domestic demand grew at an annual rate of 1.8% and structurally emerged as the main growth driver, contributing 1.9 percentage points to economic growth in the first quarter.
The external balance contributed 0.2 percentage points, as the volume of exports of goods and services grew by 12.3%, slightly faster than imports (10%).
