Domestic expenditure accelerates in second quarter

The bank said the acceleration in its September Quarterly Bulletin was due to increased spending by general government alongside a faster pace of gross fixed capital formation.

Real final consumption by households slowed further from 3.1% in the first quarter to 2.9% in the second quarter.

"This has been the lowest rate of increase to be registered since the second quarter of 2010," the bank said on Tuesday.

Increasing prices of non-discretionary items like transport and electricity probably eroded the purchasing power of households to some extent.

The bulletin noted that household debt edged higher in the second quarter outpacing disposable income.

"The growth in household debt outpaced the growth in disposable income of households and caused the ratio of household debt to disposable income to increase from 75.6% in the first quarter of 2012 to 76.3% in the second quarter.

The cost of servicing household debt rose from 6.8% to 6.9% of disposable income over the same period," the bank said.