Q2-13 GDP: Growth picks up despite falling oil GDP

Latest economic growth data released this week show a real economic growth of 2.7 percent up from 2.1 percent in the first quarter, but down from 5.5 percent in the second quarter last year. While this reading marks the second lowest quarterly growth since the first quarter of 2011, the low growth is mainly due to falling oil output. Non-oil growth picked up to 4.5 percent form 4.4 percent for both previous quarter and the same period last year with government services, construction and retail sector leading the growth. We expect year-on-year economic growth to pick up in the third quarter as the contribution of the oil sector improves.