CHARLESTON — West Virginia is leading the nation in gross domestic product according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The BEA made the announcement Thursday that West Virginia’s GDP growth for the first quarter of 2019 was 5.2 percent. The period covers January, February and March.

According to the release, GDP growth increased in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It was the highest growth rate for West Virginia since the third quarter of 2018, when the state saw 9.3 percent GDP growth.

First quarter 2019 GDP growth among West Virginia’s surrounding states included: Ohio with 3.5 percent, Pennsylvania at 2.9 percent, Virginia at 2.7 percent, Kentucky at 2.5 percent, and Maryland at 1.8 percent. Only 9 other states had GDP growth higher than 3.8 percent: Alaska, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Delaware.

West Virginia’s GDP growth was driven by mining, quarrying, and oil and natural gas production, at 2.16 percent. According to the BEA, mining was a huge driver of GDP growth nationally.

“Mining for the nation increased 26.5 percent, after increasing 38.0 percent in the fourth quarter,” according to the release. “This industry was the leading contributor to growth in several states, including the three fastest growing states of West Virginia, Texas, and New Mexico.”

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, through his Twitter account, praised West Virginia for leading the nation once again. In June, Ross also singled out West Virginia for having the highest personal income growth in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2019 with 5.6 percent.

“Congratulations again to (West Virginia) and (Gov. Jim Justice) for not only having the fastest state personal income growth in the first quarter but also the fastest state (GDP– growth, coming in at 5.2 percent,” Ross tweeted Thursday.

While the 5.2 percent GDP rate is the highest in the country, states surrounding West Virginia move more money as part of their GDP. Maryland, West Virginia’s neighbor with 1.8 percent GDP growth, had real-dollar GDP growth of more than $421 billion in the first quarter of 2019 compared to more than $79 billion in real-dollar GDP growth in West Virginia.

In a statement Thursday, Justice celebrated the announcement, proclaiming it as another example of West Virginia’s economic comeback since taking office in 2017.

“I’ve said for a long time that our people won’t tolerate being 50th anymore. But to see us jumping up to number one in the entire country, over and over again, in so many different categories of economic growth, it’s truly phenomenal,” Justice said. “There’s no way around it, with West Virginia on the national stage time and again, this is one of the best years in the history of our state’s economy!”