The economy grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the first three months, the central statistics agency CBS announced on Thursday. That is 0.1% higher than earlier forecasts.

Compared with the year earlier period, growth was 1.6% higher, 0.1% more than forecast.
Industry, construction and financial services did slightly better than expected, but transport companies did worse.
Job creation saw a rise of 0.6% with 25,000 more new jobs than in the first quarter of the year. These were in trade, transport, hospitality, care and the service industry. The government shed 12,000 jobs compared with a year ago, says the CBS.
Wages rose 1.2%, just above the 1% agreed between the unions and the government.