SECTORS
Tuesday’s data showed that the manufacturing sector escaped an outright contraction.
Growth was flat at 0 per cent, compared with the 5 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. This marks the weakest manufacturing performance since the second quarter of 2024.
“Growth was weighed down by output declines in the biomedical manufacturing and general manufacturing clusters, even as output in the other manufacturing clusters expanded,” said MTI.
The sector grew by 6.1 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, a turnaround from the 0.7 per cent contraction in the second quarter.
The construction sector grew by 3.1 per cent in the third quarter, down from the 6.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
“Growth during the quarter was supported by an increase in both public and private sector construction output,” said MTI.
However, the sector shrank by 1.2 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, a reversal from the 6.5 per cent growth recorded in Q2.
The group of services sectors, comprising the wholesale and retail trade and transportation and storage sectors, collectively expanded by 2.5 per cent in Q3, easing from the 4.9 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
The ministry attributed the growth in the wholesale trade sector to the machinery, equipment and supplies segment, while growth in the transportation and storage sector was largely supported by the water and air transport segments.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the wholesale and retail trade, and transportation and storage sectors as a whole contracted by 1.2 per cent, a pullback from the 2.8 per cent expansion in the second quarter.