1.8% GDP growth rate at constant prices in the fourth quarter of 2017

The Department of Statistics issued the results of the preliminary quarterly estimates of the GDP at fixed prices for the fourth quarter of 2017. The results show that growth reached 1.8% during the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of 2016.For the annual level the Gross domestic product of constant prices of 2017 was 2.0% as compared with 2016.

At the level of production sectors, most sectors have shown positive growth during the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the fourth quarter of 2016. According to the report, the quarrying Sector has achieved the highest growth rate at 6.5%, followed by  Social & Personal Services Sector at 4.3%, then Agricultural Sector by 4.0%, followed by Transport, Storage & Communications Sector by 3.5%, then Finance, Insurance & Real Estate’s Sector by 2.6%, followed by Electricity& Water Sector by 2.1% and finally the Wholesale, Retail Trade, Restaurants & Hotels Sector by 1.8%.

At the level of sectors contribution to the achieved growth rate during the fourth quarter of 2017 by 1.8%, the Finance, Insurance & Real Estate’s Sector has contributed and the Transport, Storage & Communications Sector contribution was 0.52 percentage points, while the Social & Personal Services Sector at 0.20 percentage points, the agricultural Sector by 0.18 percentage points ,the net tax on products Sector has contributed by 0.16 percentage points, finally the Wholesale, Retail Trade, Restaurants & Hotels Sector contributed by 0.15 percentage points of the total achieved growth.