NBS Identifies transportation, metal industry, financial service sectors, aviation as fastest-growing sectors In Q3/2
NBS, the National Bureau of Statistics has identified the rail transportation, financial services and aviation sectors leading the list of fastest-growing sectors in the country for the third quarter of 2021.
According to the data presented by NBS, the rail transportation sector grew by 59.93% year-on-year in real terms in Q3 2021, representing the fastest growing sector in the review period, closely followed by metal ores, which is a component of the mining and quarrying sector with 54.92% growth rate.
The increased adoption of rail services across the country has clearly been reflected in the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) numbers, considering that the sector had witnessed recurrent contractions in four quarters preceding Q2 2021.
Similarly, the GDP of metal ore activity grew by 54.92% in the review period compared to the 21.12% growth recorded in the previous period and a 6.22% contraction recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.
The sector, which is a sub-activity of the mining and quarrying sector, is the only sub-sector in the group to record growth in the third quarter of the year. Notably, crude production and natural gas declined by 10.73% year-on-year in real terms. This is no surprise, given the decline recorded in the daily production of crude oil in the country.
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The financial sector of the economy also grew by 25.5% year-on-year in real terms in Q3 2021, compared to a contraction of 4.54% recorded in the previous quarter and a 6.8% growth recorded in Q3 2020.
According to the NBS, the sector, which captures banks, investment houses and other financial services apart from insurance, was able to recover from the downturn in the preceding quarter. In the same, the broader sector, which is the financial and insurance sector grew by 23.23% in real terms from a 2.48% decline recorded in the previous quarter.
The aviation sector grew by 33.31% in Q3 2021, largely driven by increased travelling activities in the country, post covid lockdown. Due to the reopening of most economies of the world, pent-up travelling obligations have now been carried out, which has resulted in a significant expansion in the sector.
Compared to the previous quarter, the growth rate increased by 28.33% points from 4.98%. The sector witnessed multiple declines between Q2 2020 and Q1 2021.
