The 4.6% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted and annualised (saar) GDP expansion in the first quarter, well exceeded the consensus forecast at 3.2%. The overshoot was underpinned, from the production side, mainly by a strong rebound in the finance, real estate and business services sector. From the expenditure side, consumer spending grew at a brisk pace of 4.7% (q/q saar) and occurred despite the disappointing slump in real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) which contracted by 2.6% q/q.
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