Today, the Minister for the Cabinet Office the Hon. Wayne Furbert, JP, MP, released the Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, 2019 Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Expenditure  publications from the Department of Statistics.

The Minister explained, “After adjusting for inflation, the GDP in constant prices for the fourth quarter increased by 0.3 percent following a decline in the third quarter of 0.1 per cent. The growth in the fourth quarter was driven mostly by an increase in the surplus balance on the trade in goods and services as well as an increase in gross capital formation in machinery and equipment. For the third quarter, the decline reflected lower gross capital formation and a decrease in final consumption expenditure.”

The Minister further noted, “The release of the Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, 2019 Quarterly GDP by Expenditure publications experienced delays due to the rebasing of the quarterly series and the reformatting of the publications to feature some additional analytical content such as a table on revisions. The public should note that the base year for the quarterly GDP is now updated to 2013. The quarterly data series has been benchmarked to align with the higher total levels for the rebased annual GDP, starting with data published in the Quarter 3, 2019 Quarterly GDP by Expenditure publication. The public is advised to refer to the GDP Rebasing document for further details on rebasing and also to read the concepts and definitions on the last page of the publication prior to reviewing the data.”

Highlighted below are the year-over-year changes in the quarterly GDP components:

• Household Final Consumption decreased 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter following a 0.9 per cent decline in the third quarter.
• Government Final Consumption increased 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter following a 0.2 per cent decrease in the third quarter.
• Gross Capital Formation increased by 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter following a decline of 8.0 per cent in the third quarter.
• The External Balance on Trade in Goods and Services increased by 1.2 per cent in the fourth quarter and by 9.0 per cent in the third quarter.

The Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, 2019 Quarterly GDP by Expenditure publications and the GDP Rebasing document are available online athttps://www.gov.bm/quarterly-gross-domestic-product.