Speaking at a press conference, Mr Wadieh said the industry sector recorded the highest growth of 9.6 percent; the services sector was up with 5.2 percent and agriculture with 2.8 percent.

The quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted growth rate was 1.5 percent, down from 2.1 percent in the last three months of 2017.

He said non-oil growth for the period stood at 5.4 percent year-on-year compared to 4 percent last year.

The sectoral distribution of the Gross Domestic Product shares in the first quarter, saw Services taking 60.6 percent, followed by industry at 27.5 percent and agriculture at 11.9 percent, Mr Wadieh said.