National Bureau of Statistics issued a report titled “The quarterly national account”, stating a decline in QGDP. The 5.9 percent decline in the first quarter of this year is reported against the QGDP of last year.
The statistics revealed on last Saturday, estimate the real GDP at MVR 18.6 billion for Q1 2020. MVR 19.8 billion were previously reported for Q1 in 2019.
The variables affecting QGDP includes the tourism sector, construction sector, and the wholesale and retail sector. The decline is attributed to these sectors post-COVID-19.
GDP growth has declined by 6.4 percent as compared to the fourth quarter in 2019.
Sector-wise decline
The tourism sector is reported to have declined by 2.7 percent. The construction sector has observed slowdown by 1.4 percent. Lastly, the wholesale and retail sector has receded by 1.0 percent.
The tourism sector is the highlight of the Maldivian economy. The country projects positive growth in GDP especially in Q1 and Q4. The reason is that tourism picks up in peak seasons and thus reflects towards an upward trending GDP.
However, the economy GDP ha now declined from positive growth of 3.2 percent in Q1 2019 to negative growth of 5.9 percent in Q1 2020.
Gross Value Added
Speaking of the Gross value addition, it is recorded to be MVR 4.93 billion in Q1 2020. If the figure is to be measured against Q1 and Q4 of 2019. It shows a 10 percent decline against Q1 2019. And a decline by 6.5 percent is reported for Q4 2019.
The tourist bed-night has dropped by 0.15 million as compared to Q4 2019. This variation in figures has contributed to the decline in GDP
Sectors as a share of GDP
For Q1 2020, the tourism sector constitutes 26.5 percent of the Real GDP. The communication and transport sector makes up 13.4 percent while the public administration sector is 8.7 percent as a share of GDP.
The mobility constraints have put pressure on the main sectors of the economy thus reversing the course of its GDP.
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