Industrial production increased y-o-y by 1.7% in July 2017 for the tenth consecutive month. Overall, between January and July 2017 industrial production increased by 5.3% relative to 1/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  the corresponding period of 2016. The volume of retail sales in the first half of 2017 rose by 2.4%, year-on-year.
The positive momentum of the economy is also mirrored in the labour market, which has been showing signs of improvement since mid-2014, on the back of structural reforms which allowed for a shift towards more flexible forms of employment.