WINDHOEK, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's economy contracted by 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2017 compared to a decline of 0.4 percent registered in the corresponding quarter of 2016, according to Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) on Thursday.

NSA statistician General Alex Shimuhafeni at the presentation of the the Quarterly GDP Report on Thursday said the poor performance is mainly attributed to construction, wholesale and retail trade as well as the fishing sector that recorded contraction in real value added of 51.9 percent, 8.2 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.

"Weaker performance was also observed in sectors such as hotels and restaurants, public administration as well as electricity and water sector that registered declines in real value added of 3 percent, 2.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively," Shimuhafeni added.

According to him, the health and financial intermediation sectors recorded slower growths of 0.3 percent and 0.9 percent in Q2 2017 compared to strong growths of 21.8 percent and 4.6 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016.

"In contrast to poor performance, sectors such as agriculture, mining and quarrying and manufacturing posted stronger growths of 17 percent, 25.8 percent and 2.9 percent," he noted.

"One of the factors for this good performance was a result of increased production of uranium resulting from a new uranium mine that is now contributing to the uranium production in the country," he added. Enditem

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