South Africa\u2019s economy remains stuck in its longest downward cycle since 1945, adding to the risk that it may fall into its second recession in a year.<\/p>\n
The economy entered the 67th month of a weakening cycle in June, according to the Reserve Bank\u2019s Quarterly Bulletin released Thursday in the capital, Pretoria. That\u2019s after gross domestic product contracted the most in a decade in the three months through March.<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s most-industrialized economy went through a recession in 2018 and it shrank again in the first quarter of this year as the nation suffered the worst power outages since 2008.<\/p>\n
While electricity supply from state-owned Eskom has since stabilised, business and factory confidence dropped in May and spending by households, which make up 60% of GDP, remains weak.<\/p>\n
The Reserve Bank forecasts the economy, which hasn\u2019t expanded at more than 2% since 2013, will only achieve 1% growth this year.<\/p>\n
The only other time that a falling cycle lasted more than 50 months, was between 1989 and 1993, when the former government renewed a state of emergency and the country prepared for its first democratic elections.<\/p>\n
The central bank monitors about 200 indicators representing economic processes such as production, sales, employment and prices to determine the direction of the trend.<\/p>\n
These are some of the other highlights from the Quarterly Bulletin for the three months through March:<\/p>\n