The economy of Senegal expanded 5.7% from a year earlier in the first quarter of 2019, following a 6.8% advance in the previous period. Slower growth was seen in services (4.9% vs 6.3% in Q4), namely business services (5.7% vs 8.1%); real estate activities (3.8% vs 7.9%); information & communication (3.4% vs 6.2%); transport (4.3% vs 6.1%) and wholesale & retail trade (4.2% vs 5.5%). In contrast, stronger gains were posted in public administration (7.9% vs 7.8%); finance & insurance (3.4% vs 2.9%) and hotels & restaurants (5.6% vs 4.6%). Also, secondary activity lost some steam (5.3% vs 6.5%), mainly led by construction (-4.6% vs 9.7%) and manufacture of cement & building materials (2.1% vs 5.4%). Mining, however, rose strongly (10.3% vs 4.9%). The primary activity also grew solidly (9.3% vs 8.7%), namely agriculture (9.9% vs 10.1%) and fishing (15.4% vs 11.9%). On a quarterly basis, the GDP advanced 0.4%, slowing from 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018. GDP Annual Growth Rate in Senegal averaged 3.56 percent from 1961 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 9.90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 and a record low of -6.55 percent in the fourth quarter of 1969.
GDP Annual Growth Rate in Senegal is expected to be 7.50 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate GDP Annual Growth Rate in Senegal to stand at 7.10 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Senegal GDP Annual Growth Rate is projected to trend around 7.20 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.