Year 2018
GDP growth rate
1. GDP at market prices in 2018 grew by 3.8% and GVA at basic prices by 3.6%, same as in 2017.
Year 2019
GDP growth rate
2. Based on information gathered on key sectors of the economy, performance observed in the first nine months of 2019 and taking into consideration policy measures announced in the budget 2019/2020:
a) GDP at market prices in 2019 would grow by 3.6% instead of 3.8% as forecasted in September 2019;
b) GVA at basic prices in 2019 would grow by 3.3% instead of 3.5% as forecasted in September 2019.
3. Main contributors to the 3.3% growth in GVA at basic prices are: “Financial and insurance activities” (0.6 percentage point), “Construction” and “Wholesale & retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” each contributing 0.4 percentage point, and “Professional, scientific and technical activities” (0.3 percentage point).
4. The main assumptions used are as follows:
a) Sugarcane: a sugar production of 335,000 tonnes compared to 323,406 tonnes in 2018, resulting in a growth of 3.7% compared to a drop of 9.1% in 2018.
b) Other agriculture: to grow by 3.9% compared to 0.4% in 2018.
c) Manufacturing: to grow at a rate of 0.7%, same as in 2018, assuming growths of 1.2% and 2.9% in ‘food processing’ and ‘other manufacturing’ respectively, partly offset by ‘textile manufacturing’ (-3.0%).
d) Construction: to grow by 8.5% compared to 9.5% growth in 2018, based on implementation of main public projects (Metro Express, Côte d’Or Multi Sports Complex and Road Decongestion Programme) and private projects (Property Development Scheme, Smart City projects and shopping malls).
e) Wholesale & retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles: to grow at a lower rate of 3.4% compared to 3.6% in 2018.
f) Transportation and storage: to grow by 3.2%, lower than the 3.5% growth in 2018.
g) Accommodation and food service activities: to reach no growth compared to 4.1% growth in 2018, based on expected tourist arrivals of 1,400,000.
h) Information and communication: to grow by 5.5%, same as in 2018.
i) Financial and insurance activities: to grow by 5.2%, lower than the 5.4% growth in 2018.
j) Professional, scientific and technical activities: to grow by 5.1%, same as in 2018.
k) Public administration and defence; compulsory social security: to grow by 2.2% compared to 1.8% in 2018.
Consumption and Saving
5. Final consumption expenditure of households and general government would grow by 3.2% in 2019 compared to 3.4% in 2018.
6. Gross Domestic Savings (GDS) as a percentage to GDP at market prices for 2019 would be 9.5 compared to 9.0 in 2018.
Investment
7. Investment, as measured by Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), would grow by 8.2% in 2019, after a growth of 10.9% in 2018, explained by a lower growth in private sector investment and a higher growth in public sector investment. Exclusive of aircraft and marine vessel, investment would grow by 7.9% compared to 12.2% in 2018. Private sector investment is expected to grow by 4.0% in 2019 compared to the 10.4% growth in 2018 and public sector investment would expand by 21.1% in 2019, after a growth of 12.7% in 2018.
8. Investment rate, as measured by GFCF as a percentage of GDP at market prices, would increase to 19.8% in 2019, from 18.8% in 2018. Private investment rate would be 14.4% compared to 14.2% in 2018 and public investment rate would increase to 5.4% from 4.5% in 2018.
9. The share of private sector investment in GFCF is expected to drop to 72.9% in 2019 from 75.8% in 2018, while that of the public sector would increase to 27.1% from 24.2% in 2018. Exclusive of aircraft and marine vessel, the share of private sector investment in 2019 would be 73.1% and that of the public sector, 26.9%.
December 2019
