The figures showed domestic household services recorded the highest real growth of about 17 percent last year, followed by the oil and gas sectors, which surged by 12.1 percent mainly due to higher output.

Real growth was put at 6.7 percent in construction, six percent in the financial sector, 4.8 percent in government services, 4.5 percent in the manufacturing sector and around 3.2 percent in restaurants and hotels.

Other non-oil sectors recorded growth except the electricity and water sector, which slumped by about 2.1 percent, according to the ministry.

Its figures showed the gross fixed capital formation, which covers public and private investments, hit an all time high of 200.4 billion dirhams in 2008, an increase of nearly 35 percent over the 2007 investment of 148.5 billon dirhams.

A breakdown showed the manufacturing sector was the second largest contributor to the real GDP after the oil sector in 2008, with 66.5 billion dirhams, accounting for about 12.4 percent of the 535.3 billion dirhams of the GDP.

The oil sector stood at 241.3 billion dirhams while the value was put at 40.6 billion in trade, 40.1 billion in construction and 34.2 billion in government services.