And turning now to the current GDP for the second quarter of 2025, growth has been sluggish at 0.8% with the primary and secondary sectors driving growth, while the usually robust services sector contracted. Sabal explained that agricultural mainstays such as banana and even citrus performed well:
Jacqueline Sabal, Manager - Economic Statistics Dept.
"Growth in the second quarter was driven by the primary sector which was up by 10.9%. Banana production rose by 20.4% from 23.7,000 to 28.5,000 metric tons in the second quarter of 2025, marking a return to more normal output levels for this commodity after two years of suppressed production due to disease and weather-related challenges."
"Citrus was up nearly by more than two-thirds from 6.1 to 10.4,000 metric tons. This was the result of growing maturity and productivity of HLB-resistant citrus trees. For livestock, we saw growth of 9.9%, supported by increased production of cattle by 10.4%, pigs by 15.2%, and then also poultry by 8.1%, which were driven by favorable export prices and consistent domestic demand."
"The industry with the most negative impact was wholesale and retail trade. However, we can also observe negative contributions from electricity, taxes, public administration, and other service activities."
"Note that activities within the tertiary sector were down during the second quarter of this year. This is the first tertiary sector decline that we have seen since early 2021. The primary drivers of this decline were the wholesale and retail trade industry, which fell by 5% due to a decrease in the importation of goods."
"Transport services were down by 4.4% due to a decrease in passenger transport, along with public administration, which decreased by 2.8% due to a reduction in government recurrent expenditure."
