The services sector contributed significantly to growth, as sharper rises were reported for: accommodation & food service activities (6.9 percent vs 3.4 percent in Q1); transportation & storage (3.9 percent vs 0.9 percent); financial & insurance activities (8.6 percent vs 5.9 percent); public administration & defence, compulsory social security (2.8 percent vs 2.3 percent); wholesale & retail trade (1.9 percent vs no growth); information & communication (3.3 percent vs 0.3 percent); and administrative & support service activities (1.8 percent from 0.6 percent). Meanwhile, there was a contraction in real estate activities (-1.5 percent vs 3.9 percent).
Within industrial activity, production grew further for both manufacturing (2.8 percent vs 1.9 percent) and mining & quarrying (2.6 percent from 0.7 percent); while electricity, gas & steam, air conditioning output was was unchanged (vs 2.1 percent in Q1), and water supply, water disposal, organization of waste collection & disposal, pollution control activities dropped 2.2 percent (vs 0.2 percent in Q1). In contrast, construction output rebounded firmly (0.8 percent vs -5.1 percent).
In addition, agriculture, forestry & fishing advanced by 0.3 percent, compared to a 0.1 percent fall in the first quarter.
Considering the first half of 2018, the Russian economy grew 1.7 percent, slightly above 1.6 percent in the same period of 2017.
The Bank of Russia predicts that GDP growth will be 1.5-2.0 percent in both the third and the fourth quarters.