El Salvador’s GDP expanded 2.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018 from an downwardly revised 2.8 percent in the previous quarter. Output slowed mostly in: mining & quarrying (3.8% vs 8.6% in Q2); manufacturing (2.3% vs 3.1%); utilities (0.5% vs 1.1%); construction (5.0% vs 8.2%); retail trade (2.1% vs 3.1%) and professional, scientific and technical activities (4.3% vs 7.5%). On the expenditure side, household consumption rose less (3.6% vs 4.5%) and net externa demand contributed negatively to growth, as exports fell 0.7 percent (vs 5.2% in Q2) while imports surged 4.7 percent (vs 5.8% in Q2). In contrast, faster growth was seen for both government spending (4.1% vs 2.8%) and fixed investment (12.3% vs 6.5%). On a quarterly basis, the economy rose 1.0 percent, following a 0.1 percent contraction in Q2. GDP Annual Growth Rate in El Salvador averaged 3.13 percent from 1991 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 8.10 percent in the second quarter of 1995 and a record low of -2.60 percent in the third quarter of 2009.
GDP Annual Growth Rate in El Salvador is expected to be 2.40 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 El Salvador to stand at 1.70 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the El Salvador GDP Annual Growth Rate is projected to trend around 2.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.