LUSAKA, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's economy grew by 3.3 percent in the first half of 2018, the country's statistics agency said on Thursday.

According to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), this was an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year when the country recorded an economic growth of 3.1 percent.

Goodson Sinyenga, acting director of the Central Statistical Office (CSO), said the financial and insurance sector as well as the mining a quarrying industries had the highest percentage contribution to the growth of 1.0 percentage point each followed by the information and communication industry at 0.7 percentage point and manufacturing and construction industries at 0.5 percentage points each.

"The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry had a negative contribution to GDP (growth domestic product) growth in the first half of 2018," he told reporters during a monthly briefing.

Meanwhile, final figures have revealed that the country's economy grew at 3.4 percent in 2017 from the previous preliminary figure of 4.1 percent.

The official said the final figure was arrived at following the computation of comprehensive data from all sectors.