Growth over the past three months is the highest since autumn 2012. Activity is increasing most in the oil service sector, services and construction, but has also picked up in retail trade. Higher oil investment, purchases of technology-related services and large-scale public investment are the strongest contributors to growth.

Capacity utilisation and employment have increased further and more enterprises report difficulty recruiting qualified labour. Contacts have revised up their estimate for annual wage growth in 2019 to 3.2 percent.

Enterprises expect output growth to remain firm ahead and are planning for solid investment growth.