Shrinking construction sector continues to hinder economic growth

The economy continues to slide into further recession in the first quarter of 2017, according to the statistics agency, as the real Gross Domestic Product(GDP) for the first quarter of 2017 recorded a contraction of 2.7% compared to a 4.1% growth registered in the corresponding quarter of 2016.

The Namibia Statistics Agency this week said the poor performance is mainly attributed to the construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and hotels and restaurants sectors that contracted by 44.9%, 10.7%, 7.4% and 9.3% in real value added, respectively.

The agency in their, economic update statistics furthermore said, slower growths were observed in sectors such as financial intermediation, transport and communications and fishing sectors that registered 0.1%, 0.7% and 4.6% in real value added, respectively.

On the other hand, sectors such as agriculture, mining and quarrying recorded double digit growth of 10.5% and 16.8% compared to the contractions recorded in the corresponding period.

“The water and electricity sector also posted strong growths of 6.1% compared a marginal growth of 0.3% in real value added registered in the same quarter of 2016,” NSA added.

Meanwhile, the agency emphasised the importance of accurate and timely delivery of data from their stakeholders in the private and public sectors on which the compilation of quarterly GDP depends.