Statistics South Africa has today confirmed that the country’s economy is shrinking.
“The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has contracted to -0.7% in the first quarter of 2017,” the national government’s news portal wrote in a press release.
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The nominal GDP, which stood at R1.1-trillion in Q1 2017, was down by R17-billion over Q4 2016 with trade the biggest loser.
The SA economy moved into #recession with Q1:2017#GDP down 0,7% following a 0,3% contraction in the Q4:2016 https://t.co/zDyVIRpqJM pic.twitter.com/0QUTUhkOdT
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) June 6, 2017
Largest negative contributor to growth in #GDP in Q1:2017 was trade, catering & accommodation industry, down by 5,9% https://t.co/zDyVIRpqJM pic.twitter.com/y8QHsBAhrO
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) June 6, 2017
It’s not all doom and gloom though.
Agriculture has experienced a massive jump over the previous quarter, with its first spike in nearly two years of consecutive declines. Mining was also up 12.8% over the previous quarter.
South Africa’s GDP has dropped by 0.7% over the previous quarter, with agriculture and mining the best performing sectors
Nevertheless, the latest spate of bad news hasn’t been received well by South Africans. And some people know exactly who to blame for 2017’s bad news: President Jacob Zuma and the national ruling party, the ANC.
“ANC keeps hurting the black majority instead of uplifting them,” one Twitter user wrote.
ANC keeps hurting the black majority instead of uplifting them. #recession
— Sammy (@PortblueSA) June 6, 2017
What happend to buildin a goverment of the ppl for the ppl
#recession #KrunchTime pic.twitter.com/MOUVZ6j8Ph — #AfricanChild (@TeffuJoy) June 6, 2017
Congratulations to the leadership of this country. U got what u wanted. #recession pic.twitter.com/5yYnnVUAxj
— Botlhe
(@botlhe88) June 6, 2017
We are in #recession cause our Country is Guptified and it breaks my heart cause ANC members don’t have the balls to remove Zuma. pic.twitter.com/fP4kRpelcg
— KARABO_THE_GREAT (@sekwakwariri) June 6, 2017
#recession ANC is abusing us..
— Babes woRevolution (@tshegomuhlez) June 6, 2017
As if junk wasn’t good enough, now we’re officially in #Recession #StatsSA
— Tzee (@Tzmathoma) June 6, 2017
I blame ANC for the #recession
— Nelson Mahlangu (@nelson_mahlangu) June 6, 2017
The news of a recession comes in the same week that unemployment figures rose to 27.7% — the highest number in 13 years.
#Recession continues to trend on Twitter across South Africa as of 2pm Tuesday.
Feature image: GovernmentZA/GCIS via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-ND, resized)
