In a note released today, the High Commission for Planning said economic growth reached 2.3% during the second trimester of 2023, a jump from the 2.2% during the same trimester last year.
The note stated that non-agricultural activities increased in volume by 2.1%, while agricultural activities increased by 6.3%.
“In an environment marked by a sharp increase in inflation and an increased capacity to finance the national economy, external demand served as the primary driver of economic expansion,” said the HCP.
The volume-adjusted added value of the primary sector climbed by 6% during the same period in 2023, following a significant decline of 13.5% during the second quarter of 2022.
This change is related to a rise in agricultural activity of 6.3%, up from a decline of 13.5% a year earlier, and an increase in fishing activity of 0.5%, up from a drop of 14.6%.
The added value of secondary sectors, on the other hand, decreased by 2.8% instead of an increase of 0.1% registered during the second quarter of the previous year.
This was the result of the drop in added values of the extraction industry of 9.4% instead of a drop of 7.5%, and of construction and public works of 2.8% instead of a drop of 7.5%, alongside a drop of 1% processing industries by 2.1% instead of an increase of 1.8%, and an increase of electricity and water by 1.4% instead of a previous drop of 1.5%.
The tertiary sector’s added value saw a dip in its growth rate, dropping from 6.2% in the same quarter last year to 4.4%, said HCP.
It was characterised by a slowdown in the activities of accommodation and catering, transport and storage, education services, health, and social action, general public administration services, social security, research and development services, services provided to businesses, information and communication, financial services and insurance, trade, and vehicle repair.
However, real estate services noted a significant 2.3% increase rather than a 1.4% in the past year.
“Under these conditions, and taking into account the 0.4% reduction in taxes on proceeds net of subsidies, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in volume recorded an increase of 2.3% during the second quarter of 2023 instead of 2.2% a year ago,” said the same source.
Domestic demand continues to record declines, noting a drop of 0.2% preceded by a drop of 1.6% in the same period of 2022, with a negative contribution to national economic growth of 0.2 points.
Naturally, gross investment continues to record declines in its growth rate, due to a decrease of 3.1% following a decline of 8.4% in the same quarter of the previous year, with a negative contribution to growth of 1.1 points.
On the other hand, household final consumption expenditure increased by 0.4% instead of 0.3%, with a contribution to growth of 0.2 points.
The note showed that the final consumption of public administrations showed an increase of 3.1% instead of 4.9%, with a contribution to growth of 0.6 points.
In turn, foreign commerce in goods and services contributed to national growth by 2.5 percentage points, compared to 3.9 percentage points in the same quarter the previous year.