Italy's statistics office said Wednesday the country's GDP rose 1.5 percent in the second quarter in year-on-year terms.
According to statistics agency ISTAT, the GDP rose 0.4 percent in the second quarter this year from the first quarter and 1.5 percent over the first quarter of 2016.
The second quarter's 1.5 percent year-on-year rise is the biggest in six years, since the start of 2011 when it was 2.1 percent, the agency said.
In its seasonally adjusted estimate, ISTAT said the GDP rise for 2017 is so far 1.2 perent. If the current trend continues, however, the year-end gain will be 1.5 percent, it said.
The better-than-expected GDP figures made Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni tweeted that "#ISTAT 1.5% 2017 growth forecast, a good basis to relaunch the economy and jobs".
Italy's Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan also hailed GDP increase as "the most sustained gain since the start of the financial crisis".
The government deserved credit for this and it had forged policy "along a narrow path", Padoan said. The focus would now be on young people with incentives for hiring aimed at cutting high youth unemployment, he was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.
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