According to the Quick Information Sheet, to which Lusa had access, this is the first time that quarterly GDP has slipped into negative territory since the second quarter of 2021.
The decline in oil exploration and refining activity (1.11 percentage points) was the basis for the negative quarterly variation and anemic growth in the first quarter of 2023.
Transport and storage activities (0.80 percentage points), diamond mining (0.59 percentage points), fishing (0.56 percentage points), financial intermediation and insurance (0.08 percentage points) also had a negative impact.
In year-on-year terms, the Gross Value Added (GVA) of oil fell by 8.0 percent, in the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same quarter of 2023, contributing negatively by 2 percentage points to the total change in GDP.
This variation is the result of planned and unplanned losses in production for operational reasons, adds INE.
On the other hand, GVA had a growth of 22.9 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, contributing positively by 0.32 percentage points to the total change in GDP, a significant increase due to the industrial production of diamonds from the mine of Luaxe and Tchegi.
Agriculture also had a positive performance, contrary to fisheries, affected by the low catch of sea fishing, associated with climatic factors (species migration).
Transport was the activity with the highest year-on-year growth (27.1 percent, in the first quarter of 2023) contributing positively by 0.81 percentage points to the total change in GDP.
"The increase was due to the exponential growth in the sector, as a result of the increase in regional and intercontinental flight frequencies and the increase in the bus fleet", justifies INE.
