The national accounts report for the year 2022 reveals a significant slowdown in economic growth, standing at 1.3% instead of the 8% recorded in the previous year, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
Non-agricultural activities experienced a growth of 3%, while the agricultural sector witnessed a decline of 12.9%. These findings were stated in a recently published information note on the provisional national accounts for the year 2022 by the HCP.
Driven by external demand, this growth occurred amidst increasing inflation and a worsening national economy financing requirement, as emphasized by the same source.
Specifically, the volume of value added in the primary sector contracted by 12.7% after a 19% increase in the previous year, as reported by the HCP. This decline can be attributed to a decrease in the value added of agriculture by 12.9% instead of the anticipated increase of 19.5%, as well as a 9.7% decrease in the value added of fishing compared to a projected increase of 9.9% in 2021.
On the other hand, the value added of the secondary sector experienced a slowdown in its growth rate, declining from 7.1% in the previous year to a decrease of 1.7% in 2022.
According to the report, this was the result of declining value added in the extraction industry, which decreased by 9.4% instead of the expected increase of 7.3%, as well as a 3.6% decline in the construction and public works sector compared to an anticipated increase of 4.7%. The “Electricity, gas, water, sanitation, and waste” sector also experienced a decrease of 3.2% instead of an expected increase of 7.5%, while the value added of manufacturing industries increased by only 0.3% instead of the projected 7.8% increase.
Meanwhile, the value added of the tertiary sector recorded a slowdown in its growth rate, declining from 5.8% in the previous year to 5.4% in 2022.
This trend was characterized by a slowdown in the activities of “Research and development and services to businesses,” which grew by 5.4% instead of the anticipated 9.6%, “Services provided by the general public administration and social security” with a growth rate of 4.2% instead of 5.1%, “Transportation and storage” with a growth rate of 3.8% instead of 10.5%, “Real estate services” with a growth rate of 1.4% instead of 2.9%, and “Trade and vehicle repair” with a growth rate of 0.4% instead of 8.2%.