LOBAMBA – Eswatini’s economy recorded a slight decline in the first quarter of 2025, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracting by 0.25% year-on-year, according to the Central Statistical Office’s latest GDP Bulletin released through the National Accounts Unit.
The bulletin, which tracks the total monetary value of final goods and services produced locally, revealed that the country’s economic performance weakened compared to the same period last year when a 5.6% growth was recorded. On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the economy registered a modest recovery of 0.5%, following a contraction of 1.6% in the final quarter of 2024.
The GDP estimates are now benchmarked using 2019 as the new base year, replacing the 2011 benchmark to reflect current economic realities. Figures were compiled using the Production approach under international standards such as the System of National Accounts (SNA 2008) and the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC Rev. 4).
A sectoral breakdown of the economy reveals that the downturn was largely driven by sharp contractions in the primary and secondary sectors.
The primary sector, which includes agriculture, forestry, and mining, accounted for 7% of the total GDP. However, it saw a year-on-year decline of 7.3%. This drop was largely due to reduced crop production (-2%), a steep fall in forestry (-9.5%), and a significant slump in mining and quarrying (-28.9%).
The secondary sector, which contributed 33.9% to GDP, saw an even steeper year-on-year drop of 10.2%. This was attributed to declining activity in key industries: manufacturing dipped by 13.2%, electricity supply fell by 1.8%, and water supply dropped by 7.2%.
Only the tertiary sector showed growth, contributing 59.1% to GDP with a year-on-year rise of 7.2%. The sector was buoyed by strong performances in wholesale and retail trade (12%), information and communication (9.8%), and financial and insurance activities (14.5%).
Revisions to previous quarters were also made following updates in methodology and data sources. A notable adjustment involved allocating Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM) across relevant sectors, instead of listing it separately as done before the rebasing.
The GDP report was presented by the Director of Statistics, Thembinkosi Shabalala, during the release at the CSO offices.
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