The manufacturing sector recorded a robust growth rate of 5 per cent in the final quarter of 2012. However, the primary sector contracted for a second successive quarter and this remains a matter of some concern.
Although the primary sector have shrunk significantly in the last three decades and now contribute less than 12 per cent to GDP, the agricultural and mining sectors remain important due to their significant contribution to exports, and hence the Balance of Payments situation. These sectors furthermore have relatively higher labour absorption rates. The picture is however not only doom and gloom.