AMMAN: Jordan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2 per cent at the fixed market prices in the first quarter of 2015, compared to the same quarter of 2014, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS).
Most sectors recorded growth, with the extractive industries sector achieving the highest growth rate of 10.1 per cent, according to a DoS statement issued on Thursday. Experts described the rate as “modest” and a sign of a slow year.
The agriculture sector came second with a growth rate of 7.7 per cent, followed by the private services sector (6.3 per cent), the financial, insurance, real estate and business services sector (3.7 per cent) and the social and personal services sector, which recorded 3 per cent. Although the contribution of the construction sector reached 6.5 per cent during last year’s first quarter, it registered a negative growth by 3.4 per cent over the same period this year.
Experts and economists said the “modest” growth does not rise up to the projections of the International Monetary Fund for Jordan’s GDP to increase to about 3.5 per cent in 2015.
