South Africa’s GDP contracts on power cuts, logistics
The South African economy experienced a slight contraction in the third quarter of the current year, with output declining in the agriculture, mining, and construction sectors, according to data from the statistics agency released on Tuesday. This comes as logistics constraints and a chronic electricity shortage took their toll.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the quarter-on-quarter contraction of 0.2% was slightly larger than the 0.1% predicted by analysts polled by Reuters. This downturn follows two consecutive quarters of growth. The recent figures indicate that Africa's most industrialized economy only expanded by 0.3% in the first nine months of the year.
Joe de Beer, the head of economic statistics at Statistics South Africa, remarked that nearly all sectors of the economy showed minimal growth or decline. "The economy has moved sideways... the numbers are just oscillating around zero," he stated during a briefing in the capital, Pretoria.
Points clés à retenir
Household spending, influenced by elevated living costs and borrowing expenses, contracted by 0.3% in the quarter. The central bank, responding to economic challenges, has raised its benchmark rates by 475 basis points since November 2021, reaching a 14-year high of 8.25%. The decline in household expenditure is further compounded by pressures on money supply and credit extension. Recent data from the central bank reveals that the influx of money into the economy and loans extended to consumers and private businesses experienced their weakest growth in almost two years in October. The central bank's latest Financial Stability Review highlights concerns about the strain on lenders, indicating that the high-interest rate environment is prompting a more cautious approach to lending. These figures serve as an early indication that economic growth may fall short of the 0.8% forecasts for the year, as projected by both the National Treasury and the central bank.
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