SA economy to grow by 1% due to commodity prices - Economist
Economist Chris Harmse says the South African economy is expected to grow by at least 1% due to the sharp increase in commodity prices like Gold and Silver.
On Thursday, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) revealed that total employment in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by 42,000 in the second quarter of 2024, bringing the level of employment to 10,7 million.
According to the survey, 144,000 jobs were lost between June 2023 and June 2024.
The total number of employees grew by 0,4% with employment rising from 10,67 million in March 2024 to 10,72 million by June 2024.
The community services industry recorded the largest job increase, adding 92,000 positions, while the electricity sector saw no change during the same period.
Several industries experienced a decline in employment. The manufacturing sector lost 12,000 jobs, followed by the business services sector with a reduction of 14,000 jobs.
Both the mining and transport industries shed 7,000 jobs each, while the trade sector saw a decrease of 5 000 jobs and the construction sector lost 1 000 jobs.
Full-time employment decreased by 39,000 jobs, falling from 9,488,000 in the first quarter of 2024 to 9,449,000 in the second quarter of 2024.
"Why do we as economists expect the economy to grow this year by 1% or even more, number one no loadshedding, as it had an enormous impact on economic growth. Both the IMF and the Reserve Bank had calculated that we lost about 2% due to loadshedding," said Harmse.
He says the country's economy is on the right track of recovery.
"We expect interest rates to come down by 1,75% with a 50 basis point kept at the last meeting in November and another 50% in February. In the next 6 months, we might see interest rates coming down by a whole 1.25% and that will have an enormous effect on the South African economic growth".
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