Sectoral contributions to gross domestic product

Are sectoral contributions to GDP moving in environmentally friendly directions?

The trend that the Maltese economy is becoming increasingly dominated by the services sector continued in 2009. In that year, the services sector made up 78.3 per cent of economic activity, 1.5 per cent more than in 2008. This trend may indicate a transition to a cleaner economy. However a service-oriented economy depends strongly on the performance of the sectors and operators included within them, although this assumption requires more detailed analysis.

The productive sector, which includes agriculture and fisheries, increased slightly by 0.2 per cent, principally through a 0.2 per cent increase in the agriculture sector. Mining and quarrying remained stable at 0.3 per cent of GDP in 2009, indicating continued resource depletion. At the same time, the share of manufacturing fell by 2.3 per cent to 13.3 per cent in 2009. The share of other secondary industry (electricity, gas and water supply) increased by 0.8 per cent. During the same period construction decreased slightly by 0.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent of total GDP.

Business activities including real estate and renting contributed to 17.7 per cent of GDP in 2009, registering a slight increase in share (1.3 per cent) since 2008. On the other hand, the share of transport, storage and communication decreased by 0.7 per cent to 9.2 per cent in 2009. Transport activity has a major environmental impact, for example through air pollution. The share of hotels and restaurants continued to decrease slightly, down by 0.6 per cent since 2008.