Kuwait’s GDP rose by 8.7% in 2017 at current prices – Contribution of oil sector soars to 47.5% at current prices during fourth quarter

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KUWAIT CITY, March 28, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices reached KD 36.4 billion (about $120.2 billion) in 2017, an increase of 8.7 percent, Kuwait’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) said Wednesday.

The GDP at constant prices hit KD 39.76 billion (about $131.2 billion) in 2017, a drop of 2.9 percent compared with 2016, CSB added in its second release of quarterly GDP data.

During the last quarter of 2017, the GDP increased by 7.1 percent at current prices on a year-on-year basis and 3.2 percent compared with the third quarter of the same year, CSB added.

The GDP at constant prices dropped by 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016, it added. The bureau noted that the contribution of the oil sector (extracting crude oil, natural gas and services related to refined petroleum products) to GDP soared to 47.5 percent at current prices for the last quarter of 2017 compared with 44.2 percent in the same period of 2016. It pointed out that the oil sector’s contribution to GDP plunged to 55.3 percent at constant prices for the last quarter of 2017 compared to 57.6 percent during the same period of 2016.

The outcomes of gas and crude oil represent about 55.2 percent of GDP at constant prices, it said, indicating that value added of this sector reached KD 5.4 billion (about $17.8 billion) for the last quarter of 2017, a decrease of 7.3 percent compared to the same period of 2016.

Transformative industries’ contribution to GDP at current prices hit 7.2 percent and 5.7 percent at constant prices, the bureau concluded.

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