According to seasonally and calendar-adjusted data, the performance of the economy in the quarter was up by 2.3% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year and by 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, KSH said.

The industry’s added value was 5.2% higher, with manufacturing 5.9% higher, in year-on-year terms, KSH said. The performance of the construction sector was reduced by 0.5%, with the construction of buildings and civil engineering both decreasing, while the performance of agriculture fell 18% lower, and the gross added value of services grew by 3.7% overall.

The actual final consumption of households was up 2.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, KSH said, adding that householdsʼ final consumption expenditure, representing the largest proportion of the components of the actual final consumption of households, grew by 2.7%.

The volume of social transfers in kind from the government grew by 2.1% and volume of the actual final consumption of the government by 4.4%, while, as a result of the above trends, actual final consumption was up by 2.8%, KSH added.

Macroeconomic analysts interviewed by Hungarian news agency MTI continue to expect GDP growth of around 3% in 2015. Gergely Suppan of Takarékbank said economic growth could again come close to 3% in the last quarter and could reach 2.9% for the full year 2015, MTI said. Vivien Barczel and Gergely Űrmössy of Erste said they revised their full-year forecast downwards minimally to 2.7% from 2.8%. CIB Bankʼs analysts predicted GDP growth of slightly under 3% for 2015, MTI added.