South Africa’s economy shows muted growth in the third quarter
South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was 0.2% in the third quarter of 2016, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
This follows second quarter data which showed growth of 3.3%.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a quarter-on-quarter GDP expansion of 0.5% while the economy was seen expanding 0.7% year-on-year.
The main contributors to the GDP growth rate were the mining and quarrying industry; finance, real estate and business services; and general government services, the stats body said.
Mining and quarrying increased by 5.1%, largely as a result of higher production in the mining of ‘other’ metal ores, in particular iron ore.
Four industries contracted in the third quarter however, namely agriculture, forestry and fishing (-0,3%); manufacturing (-3,2%); electricity, gas and water (-2,9%); and trade, catering and accommodation (-2,1%). The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry has been in decline for seven consecutive quarters.
Last week Standard & Poor’s Global (S&P) joined other ratings firms Fitch and Moody’s in keeping South Africa’s sovereign debt rating above junk status.
The rand firmed half a percent to R13.67.
Read: South Africa is on a ‘slow grind’ to junk – but one thing can still get us there faster
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