Staff Reporter
South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 2.0 percent in the first quarter of 2020 following major contractions in the mining, manufacturing and construction sectors.
The drop comes on the back of yet another decline at the end of last year when the country’s economy contracted by 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
Figures released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Tuesday morning indicate that the mining and quarrying industry decreased by 21.5 percent while manufacturing contracted by 8.5 percent.
The electricity, gas and water industry was also down by 5.6 percent and construction eased 4.7 percent.
“Decreased production was reported for iron ore, manganese ore, other metallic minerals and chromium,” said Stats SA.
It said seven of the 10 manufacturing divisions reported negative growth in the first quarter.
“The divisions that made the largest contributions to the decrease were petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products; basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery; and motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment,” it said.
The drop in the construction industry figure has been attributed to decreases in work relating to residential buildings, non-residential buildings and construction works.
The most significant growth was recorded in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry which increased by 27.8 percent and contributed half of a percentage point to GDP growth.
“The increase was mainly due to increases in the production of field crops, horticultural products and animal products,” said Stats SA.
Finance, real estate and business services increased by 3.7 percent in the first quarter.
According to Stats SA, increased economic activity was reported for financial intermediation, insurance and pension funding, auxiliary activities and other business services.
General government services increased by 1.0 percent mainly attributed to increased employment in provincial government and higher education institutions.
The latest GDP data release, however, does not include a provincial breakdown of the economic activities as Stats SA says it has limited capacity to do so on a quarterly basis.
Stats SA chief director for national accounts Michael Manamela told The Free Stater by telephone that it is more practical to publish the provincial figures annually.
“We don’t have the capacity to produce the provincial figures every quarter,” he said.
“We want to give you information that is accurate and usable, so the provincial figures will be published when we look at the annual rate.”