Adjusted to season and working days, the country's GDP was up in the second quarter by 0.5%, the office reported on Wednesday.

In real terms, the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5% in the first half of the year.

Contributing the most to the economic growth in the second quarter was manufacturing (1.7 percentage points), followed by commerce, hospitality and real estate (0.9 points).

The overall added value of the Slovenian economy was up by 2.9%.

The growth in GDP was also powered by external demand in the second quarter, with exports rising by 7.5% (exports of goods by 8.8% and exports of services by 2.2%).

Imports were meanwhile up by 7.2%, with imports of goods increasing by 9% and imports of services decreasing by 2.9%. The foreign trade surplus contributed 0.9 percentage points to the economic growth in the second quarter.

Domestic consumption was up by 2%, final consumption increased by 2.5% and gross investments by 0.6%.

Gross investments in fixed assets were down by 3.6%, which is mainly a result of a considerable drop in investments in buildings and other structures (-18%).

Investments in equipment and machinery were meanwhile up by 13.2%.