The Sultanate's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2019, reaching 7.066 billion from 7.183 billion for the same period of 2018, according to the data released by the (NCSI).
Petroleum activities slumped by 0.5%, registering OMR2.412 billion compared to OMR2.425 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018.The share of crude oil from among oil activities at the end of the first quarter was OMR2.018 billion, which is a drop by 2.5% from the end of the first quarter of 2018, when it was OMR2.069 billion.
The activities of natural gas increased by 10.8%, reaching OMR394.7 million after it was OMR356.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018.Total non-oil activities at the end of the first quarter of 2019 was valued at OMR4.968 billion, which is an drop of 0.5% over OMR4.994 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2018. Services activities were valued at OMR3.478 billion, which is an increase of 0.4% over OMR3.465 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018.The sub-sectors of services activities recorded a fall in transport, storage and communications by 4.4%; wholesale and retail trade by 6.6%; and financial brokerage by 1.6%.On the contrary, hotels and restaurant activities grew by 7.6%; real estate activities by 4.9%; public administration and defense activities by 2.5%; and other services by 4%.The industrial activities in the first quarter of 2019 fell by 4.8% to reach OMR1.317 billion over OMR1.382 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018. The manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 1.2% over the end of the first quarter of 2019 and mining and quarrying activities fell by 3.8%.
Basic chemical industry activities and electricity and water supply rose by 14.6% and 5%, respectively. Meanwhile, construction activities fell by 14.8 and other manufacturing industries by 9.7%.
The activities related to agriculture and fishery sectors showed an increase of 18.6% to reach OMR173.1 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared to OMR146 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018.
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