SOUTH Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2017, Statistician General Pali Lehohla said on Tuesday.
At a media briefing in Tshwane, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) announced that GDP grew by 2.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) following a contraction of 0.7 per cent in the first quarter and a 0.3 per cent contraction in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Economists expected the GDP to rise to 2.3 per cent.
Tuesday’s data shows that South Africa has moved out of a technical recession following two quarters of negative growth. GDP figures showed that the largest positive contributor to growth in the second quarter was the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry, which showed an increase of 33.6 per cent and contributed 0.7 per cent to GDP growth.
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Government final consumption expenditure increased by 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter. An increase in purchases of goods and services was recorded.
Answering questions in the National Assembly in June, President Jacob Zuma said government would forge ahead and implement pro-growth intervention measures to reignite growth after the economy slipped into a technical recession.
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At the time, the President said interventions that will be implemented to mitigate the effects of the technical recession would be in the areas of energy, manufacturing, transport, telecommunications, water, tourism and the oceans economy, among others.
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