Economy Expands by 7.7 Percent in the First Quarter of 2026
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates for the first quarter of 2026 indicate that the economy grew by 7.7 percent, compared to 4.5 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2025. This represents an acceleration of 3.2 percentage points in economic growth relative to the corresponding quarter of 2025.
The economic performance was primarily driven by growth in Agriculture, forestry and fishing (21.4 percent), Arts, entertainment and recreation (21.7 percent), Information and communication (11.0 percent), Transportation and storage (9.5 percent), and Accommodation and food service activities (9.1 percent). Positive growth was also recorded in Wholesale and retail trade (6.7 percent), Financial and insurance activities (5.8 percent), Manufacturing (5.4 percent), Construction (4.8 percent), Education (3.7 percent), Real estate activities (3.7 percent), Human health and social work activities (3.3 percent), and Other service activities (2.0 percent).
Economic growth was moderated by contractions in Water supply (-5.0 percent), Administrative and support service activities (-8.9 percent), and Professional, scientific and technical activities (-0.2 percent) (see Figure 1).
These estimates are based on a year-on-year comparison of GDP at constant prices, which measures changes in the volume of economic activity after removing the effects of price changes.
Industry Contributions to the 7.7 Percent GDP Growth in the First Quarter of 2026
The 7.7 percent growth recorded in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the first quarter of 2026 was primarily driven by Agriculture, forestry and fishing, which contributed 1.9 percentage points to overall GDP growth. Wholesale and retail trade and Information and communication made significant contributions of 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively.