Portugal’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier, a seventh consecutive increase, the Lisbon-based National Statistics Institute said on its website on Friday. GDP rose 0.4 percent from the first quarter, according to official data.

Portugal emerged from recession during 2013, and exited in May 2014 a three-year bailout program organised by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The Government on April 16 raised its growth forecast for 2015 and said it sees the economy accelerating in the following two years. The Government forecasts exports and investment will help drive growth this year.

GDP will expand 1.6 percent this year, according to the Government. The economy grew 0.9 percent in 2014, after contracting in the previous three years.

Portugal’s exports of goods increased by 7.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, totalling 13 billion euros (US$14.3 billion), the statistics bureau announced last week.