The Sultanate’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at market prices registered a decline of 14.2% over the first three quarters of 2015 at RO 20,088.2 million, compared with RO 23,406.0 million in the same period of 2014.
According to figures issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), by the end of third quarter last year, petroleum activities posted a sharp 38.5% fall to record RO 6,949.4 million as against RO 11,291.1 million during the same period a year ago.
Crude oil contributed RO 6,037.1 million, with a significant drop of 42.7% as against RO 10,530.8 million in 2014 while natural gas posted a rise of 20.0% to reach RO 912,300,000 as against RO 760,200,000 in the prior year.
Meanwhile, total value of non-petroleum activities registered a 4.7% growth by Q3-end reaching RO 14,085.3 million compared with RO 13,454.4 million in the prior year.
The services sector witnessed a rise of 13.1% at RO 12.81 billion during 2014 as against RO 11.33 billion in 2013, primarily driven by a 6.4% growth in industrial activities that reached RO 4,259.2 million over the three-quarter period. Mining and quarrying posted an 8.5% growth while manufacturing went down 1.6%.  Electricity and water supply grew by 13.6% even as construction went up by 17.1%.
Services too posted a growth of 4.0% to RO 9,512.2 million, with real estate services growing at 5.8% and financial intermediation posting a growth of 5.3%. Transport, storage and communication activities posted a growth of 4.0% while wholesale and retail trade grew by 3.0%. The growth rate in the hotels and restaurants segment was recorded at 3.2%. Public administration and defence grew 3.9%. Indirectly measured financial intermediation services posted a growth of 5.5%.
The Sultanate’s GDP at producer prices during the Q1-Q3 period decreased 15.4% last year to RO 20,545.3 million; compared with RO 24,281.7 million in the prior year.
Also, 35% of the GDP was contributed by the petroleum activities while wholesale/retail trade, as well as public administration and defence contributed 10% each during over the three-quarter period of 2015. Construction added 8% to the GDP