Gross Domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.4 per cent in the December 2023 quarter, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on showed Thursday.

At 8.4 per cent year-on-year, this is the strongest growth since the second quarter of 2022, beating forecasts of 6.6 per cent. The NSO, in its second advance estimate of national accounts, had pegged the country’s growth at 7.6 per cent for 2023-24. It had projected growth of 7.3 per cent for the current financial year in its first advance estimates released earlier in January 2024.

The manufacturing sector soared by 11.6 per cent, and the farm sector grew by 3.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the growth rate for the 2023-2024 has been revised higher to 7.6 per cent from 7.3 per cent.

Gross value added (GVA), which strips out indirect tax and subsidies, is estimated to have grown 6.5 per cent as compared with a revised estimate of 4.8 per cent in the same period last year.

Agriculture declined by 0.8 per cent in Q3 as compared with 1.6 per cent growth in Q2. Mining grew from 7.5 per cent, up from 11.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

Manufacturing expanded by 11.6 per cent as against 14.4 per cent in the prior quarter. Electricity and other public utilities expanded by 9 per cent versus 10.5 per cent. Construction grew by 9.5 per cent, compared with 13.5 per cent. Trade, hotels, transport and communication expanded by 6.7 per cent versus 4.5 per cent.