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N.D. (AP) – North Dakota’s taxable sales and purchases shot up 52 percent during January, February and March when compared to the same three months a year ago.

North Dakota’s Tax Department says the state recorded $5.3 billion in taxable sales and purchases during the first quarter.

Commissioner Cory Fong says taxable sales and purchases almost doubled over last year in the oil and mining sector alone. Construction went up 113 percent. He says almost all of North Dakota’s economic sectors are growing.

Fong says of North Dakota’s largest cities, 40 of them showed double- or triple-digit percentage growth during the quarter. Jamestown’s total taxable sales and purchases for the quarter jumped up to $53.2 million, a 14.4 percent increase from 2011. Valley City was up 15.75 percent to $19.1 million, and Carrington was up 12.7 percent to $10.9 million.

North Dakota already has one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates. Fong says: “We are growing at a level beyond what we could have expected.”