It has been nearly three years since Luxembourg last experienced negative annual growth: in the fourth quarter of 2022, the country’s gross domestic product fell by 2.2%, announced Statec on Friday 17 March.

You would have to go back to the second quarter of 2020, marked by the generalised confinement, to find negative growth in Luxembourg.

In detail, the value added of financial and insurance activities fell by 6.4% between December 2022 and December 2021. Industry’s value added also fell into negative territory, by 6.3%. In contrast, value added in other services jumped by 5.8% and in public administration, education and health by 5.4%.

For the year 2022 as a whole, Statec’s first estimate is for positive growth of 1.6%, fairly close to its estimate of 1.7% published last February.

This story was first published in French on Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.