Despite plummeting oil and gas exports, the NWT saw its GDP grow 3.7 per cent from 2016 to 2017, thanks to gains in the diamond sector, according to the latest NWT Bureau of Statistics report.

For the first time since 2010, all provinces and territories saw GDP growth, with the NWT fourth behind Nunavut, Alberta and B.C.

Significant growth in the diamond mining industry (65 per cent) was levelled out by a tailspin in oil and gas extraction (96 per cent) as a result of the Norman Wells shut down.

All together, industrial extraction saw 31.8 per cent growth from 2016 to 2017.

Accounting for increases in prices, the current dollar GDP rose 5.5 per cent, largely attributed to the first full year of production at Gahcho Kue diamond mine.

Employee compensation, which makes up the largest share of GDP through income, only changed 0.1 per cent, statistics show.

Exports rose 11.3 per cent as a result of increased diamond exports to other countries.

The boost in exports was also offset by falling exports of oil and gas extraction out of Norman Wells.

GDP from construction dropped by more than a quarter, with reduced construction at the diamond mines, and the completion of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway.