This was against a 3.5 percent economic growth recoded in 2021.

2022 also marked the third annual contraction in recent times after 2019 and 2020.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, all three major economic activities of agriculture, industrial and services suffered contractions.

Industry sector suffered the worst contraction of 16 percent followed by agriculture 4.6 percent and services 2 percent. In 2021, agriculture grew by 0.9 percent, industries by 5.7 percent and services by 3.5 percent.