Portuguese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded in the second quarter 2018 a year-on-year rate of change of 2.3% (2.1% in the previous quarter). The contribution of domestic demand to the year-on-year GDP rate of growth increased to 2.9 percentage points (2.6 percentage points in the first quarter), reflecting the acceleration of private consumption, while Investment presented a less intense growth, driven to a large extent by the decrease of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) in Transport Equipment, reflecting the positive base effect recorded in the second quarter 2017. Net external demand presented a slightly more negative contribution.
In comparison with the first quarter of 2018, GDP increased by 0.5% in real terms (quarter-on-quarter rate of change of 0.4% in the previous quarter). The positive domestic demand contribution to the GDP quarter-on-quarter growth rate slightly increased in the second quarter (0.9 percentage points). The contribution of net external demand remained unchanged (-0.4 percentage points).