{"id":845251,"date":"2025-12-02T13:39:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=845251"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:39:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:39:49","slug":"another-big-win-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/845251\/another-big-win-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Another big win for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.5% in the third quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly increase, in line with market expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic boost between July and September 2025 follows an upward revision of Q2 GDP data to 0.9%, from 0.8% before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This puts the cherry on top of what was already a surprising quarter in Q2, when many economists expected a tight GDP reading at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were also concerns for more pressure on the economy in Q3 due to the United States’ 30% reciprocal tariffs kicking in from August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key sectors of South Africa’s economy, including auto manufacturing and agriculture, were hit by the tariffs, but readings showed that the impact wasn’t as severe as initially feared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA, the main driver of GDP growth in Q3 came from the mining sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine of the ten industries on the production (supply) side of the economy were stronger in the third quarter, with mining & quarrying, agriculture, forestry & fishing, and trade, catering & accommodation recording the highest growth rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mining output increased by 2.3%, driven predominantly by platinum group metals, with support from manganese ore, coal, chromium ore and copper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there was a decline in iron ore, diamonds, nickel and gold, but this was not enough to cause a significant dent in overall growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agriculture carried over its positive momentum, recording its fourth consecutive increase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1.1% rise in the third quarter was underpinned by stronger production of field crops, horticulture and animal products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trade, catering & accommodation industry also registered its fourth consecutive quarter of growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive gains were recorded across the board, with stronger wholesale trade, retail trade, motor trade, accommodation and food & beverages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General government was also positive, pulled higher by increased employment in national and provincial government and in extra-budgetary institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rise in air transport, communication and transport support services supported the 0.5% increase in the transport, storage & communication industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction turned positive after three consecutive quarters of decline, recording a marginal rise of 0.1%. Its positive showing was underscored by growth in non-residential buildings and construction works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electricity, gas & water were the only industries that disappointed in the third quarter, shrinking by 2.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was due to lower electricity production and usage. Water consumption was also lacklustre, contributing to the industry\u2019s poor performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand also on the rise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Interiors of the Pavilion Shopping, one of the biggest malls in Africa, Durban, South Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The expenditure (demand) side of the economy was lifted by stronger gross fixed capital formation, household consumption, exports and government consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Household spending expanded for a sixth consecutive quarter, rising by 0.7%. Transport was the largest positive contributor, pushed higher mainly by a rise in new vehicle sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The categories of clothing & footwear and miscellaneous goods & services recorded a decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three consecutive quarters of decline, gross fixed capital formation (spending on infrastructure and other fixed assets) expanded by 1.6%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its rise was mainly driven by increased investment in transport equipment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The miscellaneous category \u2018other assets\u2019 was also a significant positive contributor, supported mainly by increased investments in ICT equipment and software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the pressure from the United States tariffs, South African exports rose by 0.7%, primarily led by increased trade in vegetable products and mineral products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imports were up by 2.2%, mainly influenced by a rise in the trade of machinery & electrical equipment; mineral products; textiles & textile articles; and animal & vegetable fats and oils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth projections for 2025 turned more positive in the second half of the year, with most economists, the Reserve Bank, National Treasury and international groups like the IMF all projecting growth between 1% and 1.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Frank Blackmore, Lead Economist at KPMG South Africa, while South Africa has recorded growth every quarter of the year so far, the country is still likely to fall short of its full-year projections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With growth in the first three quarters standing at 0.1%, 0.9% and 0.5% respectively, the year-to-date averages 0.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This leaves GDP likely to come in at under 1% for the year as a whole, even with an optimistic fourth quarter,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa needs to hit a GDP growth target of 3% to make a dent in its unemployment crisis and turn the economy around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s real GDP expanded by 0.5% in the third quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly increase, in line with market expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":682061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[2720,1458,1809],"class_list":["post-845251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-gdp","tag-kpmg","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":845253,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845251\/revisions\/845253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}