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Denmark posts better than expected growth in Q1

Xinhua, May 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Danish economy grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016, in comparison to the previous quarter, signaling a better than expected upswing, official data showed on Tuesday.

The expansion was mainly attributable to growth in industry and construction, said Danmarks Statistik, the national statistical agency, in a statement.

"There was a broad-based increase in demand, as exports, investments, household consumption and public consumption rose by 0.6 to 0.7 percent in the first quarter," Danmarks Statistik said.

Meanwhile, exports rose 0.6 percent following a long period of decline, while imports increased by 0.1 percent.

Analysts here had expected first quarter GDP growth to be between minus 0.2 percent and plus 0.3 percent, writes Danish financial website Finans.dk.

"Today's figures paint a better picture of our economy than the preliminary indicators, but it does not change the basic growth challenge for the Danish economy," said Steen Bocian, senior economist at Confederation of Danish Enterprise.

He does not expect full-year GDP to grow more than 0.8 percent, which is less than the government's forecast of 1.1 percent.

Moreover, the Danish GDP in the first quarter of 2016 grew 0.6 percent from the same period last year, with the value standing at 484 billion Danish kroner(72.65 billion U.S. dollars).

"It was much more than expected. More generally, the growth is still very low," said Las Olsen, senior economist at Denmark's Danish Bank. Endit