The growth of the national economy slowed markedly in the fourth quarter of 2022, affected by the slowdown in non-agricultural activities and the decline in agricultural activities. This is the message that emerges from the closing of the national accounts for the fourth quarter of 2022 by the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
According to data recently published by the public body headed by Ahmed Lahlimi Alami, growth stood at 0.5% instead of 7.6% during the last quarter of the previous year.
Real GDP increased by 0.5% instead of a rise of 7.6% during the fourth quarter of the previous year
Driven by external demand, it “was carried out in a context of high inflation and an improvement in the financing requirement of the national economy”, underlines the High Commission in its information note relating to the national accounts. of the fourth quarter of 2022.
It should be noted that after having recorded an increase of 19.1% in the same quarter of the previous year, the data collected show that the value added of the primary sector in volume, corrected for seasonal variations, contracted by 15% in fourth quarter of 2022.
According to the explanations of the High Commission, this drop is attributed to the sharp decline observed in the value added of agriculture by 15.1% instead of an increase of 17.8% and fishing by 12, 3% instead of an increase of 53.4%.
The news was not so good on the side of the added value of the secondary sector which, “in volume, experienced a decline of 2.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022 instead of a rise of 5.4% the same quarter of the previous year,” the HCP said.
The same document specifies that this fall is explained by the fall in the value added of the extraction industry by 16% instead of a fall of 1.5%; construction and public works (-4.6% instead of +6.8%); of “Electricity, gas, water, sanitation and waste” (-4.5% instead of +7%) as well as the increase in the value added of “manufacturing industries” (+0.4% instead of +5.1%).
The situation was also not much better with regard to the added value of the tertiary sector which “registered a slowdown in its growth rate from 6.9% in the same quarter of the previous year to 4.9%” , again according to the HCP.
As the High Commission points out in its information note, it was marked by the slowdown in “Transport and warehousing” activities (-7.1% instead of 16.1%); “Financial services and insurance” (-5.5% instead of 5.9%); “Education, health and social action services” (-3.1% instead of 3.5%); “Services provided by general public administration and social security” (-3% instead of 3.7%); “Research and development and business services” (-2% instead of 8.5%); “Real estate services” (-1.6% instead of 3.1%) as well as those of “Vehicle trade and repair” (-1.1% instead of 7.3%).
It should be noted that the added value of the tertiary sector was also marked by the increase in activities of “Accommodation and catering” (+55.4% instead of 52.5%) and “Other services” (+2 .4% instead of 1.8%).
It thus emerges that “the added value of non-agricultural activities experienced a sharp slowdown to 2.3% during the fourth quarter of 2022 instead of 6.6% in the same quarter of the previous year”, concluded the HCP.
Furthermore, and taking into account the 2.9% increase in taxes on income net of subsidies, the High Commission notes that “the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in volume increased by 0.5% during the fourth quarter of 2022 instead of an increase of 7.6% the previous year”.
It should be noted that “at current prices, GDP rose by 5.8%, thus generating an increase in the general price level of 5.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022 instead of 4.9% in the same quarter of year 2021”, as the HCP reports.
At the level of domestic demand, figures from the public body show that it contracted by 1.7% instead of an increase of 11.6% in the same period of the previous year, contributing negatively to economic growth by 1.9 points, instead of a positive contribution of 12.4 points.
With regard to foreign trade in goods and services in volume, both exports and imports, they showed strong increases during the last quarter of the past year. The figures suggest that they made a positive contribution to growth, standing at 2.4 points instead of a negative contribution of 4.8 points during the fourth quarter of 2021.
As for the financing requirement of the national economy, it eased year on year, dropping from 3.9% of GDP to 2.1%.
Alain Bouithy