SA out of recession
South Africa has escaped the recession after reporting 2.2% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the third quarter of the year.
The country was dumped into a technical recession after two consecutive of negative growth.
Statitician-general Risenga Maluleke said the data shows that the economy’s on its way to recovery,
“As of the second quarter, and the fact that the first quarter has recorded a negative and the second quarter had recorded negative. As of the second quarter, the recession sustains but now it shows that the economy is on a recovery and that is why we have seen a 2.2% growth in this quarter of 2018,” Risenga told the media at a briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The largest positive contributors to GDP growth include manufacturing, finance, transport and trade industries.
“The manufacturing industry increased by 7,5%. Finance, real estate and business services delivery, increased by 2.3% while transport increased by 5.7%,” Risenga said.
Sectors that recorded a negative growth include mining, electricity and construction.
Mining decreased by 8.8%, construction decreased by 2.7% while electricity, gas and water decreased by 0.9%.