South Africa’s out of recession after GDP grows by 2.2%

joburg cbd south africa economy recession gdp johannesburg mark hillary cc by

South Africa is out of recession after the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.2% in the third quarter of the year. The new numbers were released by Statistics SA on Tuesday morning.

The growth comes after two dull, depressing quarters for the South African economy which plunged it into a technical recession.

Sectors responsible for growth in Q3 included manufacturing (7.5% growth quarter-over-quarter), agriculture (6.5%), and transport (5.7%).

“Positive growth was largely driven by basic iron and steel, metal products and machinery, petroleum and chemicals, wood and paper, and motor vehicles,” Stats SA notes. An uptick in freight transport, “stronger wholesale and retail trade sales” and “increasing employment numbers in civil service” were also responsible for an improvement in tertiary sector expansion.

It’s not all good news though. Some sectors, including the mining (-8.8%), construction (-2.7%), and electricity (-0.9%) sectors contracted this quarter.

But some South Africans believed that other “industries” were responsible for the healthier economy.

“Bringing Beyoncé was the best decision ever bona nou we no longer in recession,” joked on user on Twitter.

Some online felt the news gave South Africa some semblance of hope.

While for many, the news didn’t immediately impact their daily struggles.

Feature image: Johannesburg skyline, by Mark Hillary via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Andy Walker, former editor
More

News

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest in digital insights. sign up

Welcome to Memeburn

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest in digital insights.