Namibia's poor performance in the construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and hotels sectors resulted in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of the year contracting by 2.7 percent compared to a 4.1 percent growth registered in 2016, according to the Namibia Statistics Agency.
In a quarterly GDP update on economic statistic released on Thursday, NSA Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni said the mentioned sectors contracted by 44.9 percent, 10.7 percent, 7.4 percent and 9.3 percent in real value added, respectively.
"Furthermore, slower growths were observed in sectors such as financial intermediation, transport and communications and fishing sectors that registered 0.1 percent, 0.7 percent and 4.6 percent in real value added, respectively," he added.
Despite the slow growth, Shimuafeni said sectors such as agriculture, mining and quarrying recorded double digit growth of 10.5 percent and 16.8 percent compared to the contractions recorded in the corresponding period.
"The water and electricity sector also posted strong growths of 6.1 percent compared a marginal growth of 0.3 percent in real value added registered in the same quarter of 2016," he added.
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