Advance GDP Estimates for First Quarter 2008

10 April 2008. Economic growth picked up pace in the first quarter of 2008. Advance estimates show that real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 7.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, faster than the 5.4 per cent gain in the final quarter of 2007. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, real GDP expanded by 16.9 per cent, after declining by 4.8 per cent in the previous quarter.

The manufacturing sector is estimated to have expanded by 13.2 per cent in the first quarter, compared with a 0.2 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2007. This was largely due to a surge in the output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster, following its contraction in the previous quarter. The rest of the manufacturing clusters also enjoyed better performance in the first quarter with the exception of the transport engineering and precision engineering clusters whose growth moderated.

The construction sector is estimated to have grown by 14.6 per cent in the first quarter, after a 24.3 per cent gain in the preceding quarter.

Download the full press release [PDF, 32 KB].

MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
10 April 2008