AMMAN, June 20 (Reuters) - Jordan's gross domestic product expanded by 3.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009, the statistics department said on Saturday.
Growth in construction was 30.5 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year along with agriculture posting a 19 percent rise. Manufacturing industries attained a 2.3 percent rise.
Among the sectors most hit were mining and financial services, which fell 12 percent and 1.2 percent respectively, according to the official statistics.
A slowdown in the economies of trading partners in the Gulf region and a decline in remittances and reduced foreign investments had lowered Jordan's estimates of growth in gross domestic product to about 3.5 percent in 2009 from 5.6 percent for 2008.
The 3.0 -3.5 percent real growth forecast this year is almost half the levels that averaged 6 percent annually in the last few years, officials say.
($1=0.709 dinars)
(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by David Stamp)
((Reuters Messaging; suleiman.al-khalidi.reuters.com@reuters.net; Amman Newsroom +9626 4623776)
Keywords: ECONOMY JORDAN/GROWTH
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Growth in construction was 30.5 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year along with agriculture posting a 19 percent rise. Manufacturing industries attained a 2.3 percent rise.
Among the sectors most hit were mining and financial services, which fell 12 percent and 1.2 percent respectively, according to the official statistics.
A slowdown in the economies of trading partners in the Gulf region and a decline in remittances and reduced foreign investments had lowered Jordan's estimates of growth in gross domestic product to about 3.5 percent in 2009 from 5.6 percent for 2008.
The 3.0 -3.5 percent real growth forecast this year is almost half the levels that averaged 6 percent annually in the last few years, officials say.
($1=0.709 dinars)
(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by David Stamp)
((Reuters Messaging; suleiman.al-khalidi.reuters.com@reuters.net; Amman Newsroom +9626 4623776)
Keywords: ECONOMY JORDAN/GROWTH
COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.