SA economy enters recession
The South African economy has slipped into a recession following the release of the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers.
The numbers were released in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The latest data by Stats SA shows that the economy contracted by 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019, following a third quarter contraction of 0.8%.
“The definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of a negative growth. So South Africa has entered into a recession in the last half of 2019. The previous recession was the first half of 2018,” said Stats SA deputy director-general Joe de Beer.
Agriculture, transport and communication and construction were some of the biggest contributors to the negative growth.
Although Stats SA could not immediately confirm the impact of load shedding on the latest data, de Beer said the impact of power cuts could be seen in the mining industry.
"We saw a little bit of an impact of the load shedding elsewhere in the economy. Some of the coal mines might have suffered some of their production due to load shedding, either because of the weather or mine stoppages," he added.
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— Stats SA (@StatsSA) March 3, 2020
South Africa’s economy slipped into its 3rd #recession since 1994 in Q4:2019, shrinking by 1,4%. This followed a contraction of 0,8% in Q3. #StatsSA #GDP #economy pic.twitter.com/BZDlddovOp
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Dear Fellow South African, The Budget presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last week presents a sobering assessment of the state of our economy. The figures make it plain that unless we act now to turn things around, there will be even more difficult times ahead.