Disappointing estimate: GDP at constant prices rose by an annualized 2.2%

Gross domestic product (GDP), at constant prices and after seasonal adjustment, rose by an annualized 2.2% in the second half of 2018, according to the first estimate released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday, following a 3.4% In the first half of the year and an increase of 4.3% in the second half of 2017.
The decline in growth is explained by the stagnation in exports of goods and services, the decline in investments and the slowdown in expenditure on private consumption, and mainly in the purchase of vehicles.
The Ministry of Finance may be comforted by the fact that in the last quarter of 2018, growth was relatively high, at an annual rate of 3.1%, after rising 2.4% in the third quarter and 0.9% in the second quarter. An analysis of GDP components shows that private consumption expenditure increased by 2.1% in the second half of 2018, following an increase of 4.1% in the first half of the year, while private consumption expenditure per capita remained stable after rising by 2.1% in the first half.
Consumption of durables per capita declined at an annual rate of 17%, following an increase of 12.9% in the first half of 2018 and an increase of 2.6% in the corresponding half of last year. Vehicle purchases fell by an annual rate of 35.2% (19.5% in the second half), following an increase of 46.7% in the first half of the year (an annual rate of 21.1%). Purchases of equipment for households (refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, etc.) declined by 1.7% per capita, following a decline of 2.8% in the first half of 2018. Expenditure on furniture, jewelry and watches rose by 5.5% per capita, Previous.
Current private consumption expenditure per capita rose by an annual rate of 1.4% in the second half of 2018, following an increase of 0.9% in the first half. This increase reflects a rise of 0.5% in per capita expenditure on various services (transportation and communications services, personal services, education, health, culture and entertainment services, etc.) of 5.1% in per capita expenditure on various industrial goods for current consumption, On fuel, water and electricity, and 2.7% per capita expenditure on food, beverages and tobacco.
The expenditure on consumption of semi-durable goods per capita increased by 3.4%, while per capita expenditure on clothing and footwear rose by 2.7% in the second half of 2018.
The investment in fixed assets (investment in residential buildings and capital formation in the construction, equipment and transport industries) decreased by an annual rate of 4.1% in the second half of 2018, following an increase of 1.8% in the first half of 2018 and an increase of 6.3% in the corresponding half of last year.
Investment in the various industries, excluding ships and aircraft, fell by an annual rate of 5.2% in the second half of 2018, following an increase of 8.8% in the first half of the year. This reflects a decrease of 23.3% in investments in machinery and other equipment (excluding ICT equipment, ICT equipment), an increase of 6.0% in investments in ICT industries, an annualized 39.9% (22.5% , Following an increase of 28.9% in the previous half (13.5% in the second half), and a 7.5% increase in investments in intellectual property products, after an annualized increase of 9.2% in the previous half.
Investment in non-residential construction and other construction work increased by 12.6%, following an increase of 10.2% in annual terms in the previous half.
Investment in residential construction fell by an annual rate of 3.0%, following a decline of 11.1% in the first half of 2018.
General government consumption expenditure increased by 4.2% in the second half of 2018, following increases of 5.9% in the first half and 1.8% in the corresponding half of last year. Civilian consumption expenditure increased by 6.0%, and defense consumption expenditure declined by 5.1% in the second half of 2018.
Exports of goods and services (excluding diamonds and start-up companies) increased by an annualized 0.6% in the second half of 2018, following increases of 3.0% in the first half of 2018 and of 11.6% in the second half of 2017. The change in exports expresses a 3.1% decline in industrial exports excluding diamonds, An increase of 4.8% in annual terms in the export of tourism services, an increase of 4.4% in exports of other services, and a 4.4% increase in agricultural exports.
Imports of goods and services (excluding defense imports, aircraft and diamonds) declined at an annualized rate of 0.7% in the second half of 2018, at constant prices, following an increase of 3.1% in the previous half. The decline in imports in the second half of 2018 reflects a decrease of 1.5% in the import of civilian goods, a 1.0% increase in imports of other services, excluding travel abroad, and a decrease of 2.8% in expenditure on trips abroad.