A person works at The Factory, a fashion design and clothing manufacturer in Johannesburg, South Africa March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
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PRETORIA, June 7 (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, recovering to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels thanks to a strong performance by sectors such as manufacturing, statistics agency data showed.
The growth trajectory will bring some comfort to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who has been under pressure to raise the growth rate.
In the first quarter, the gross domestic product grew by a seasonally adjusted 1.9% compared to the previous quarter and in the first three months of the year by an unadjusted 3.0% compared to the previous year.
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Economists had forecast growth of 1.2% qoq and 1.7% year-on-year growth.
Ramaphosa promised sweeping reforms after taking office in 2018, but COVID and prolonged power outages have curbed activity and unemployment hit a record high of over 35% last year.
According to Statistics South Africa, manufacturing grew 4.9% qoq, while the retail, catering and accommodation category grew 3.1% and agriculture, forestry and fisheries rose 0.8%. Mining & Quarrying declined 1.1%.
GDP was 1.15 trillion rand ($75 billion) in the first quarter of 2022, about the same as in the first quarter of 2020, a presentation showed.
The rand was a little stronger after the numbers were released, trading 0.4% higher on the day at 15.3800 against the dollar at 1003 GMT.
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Additional reporting by Anait Miridzhanian in Gdansk Editing by James Macharia Chege
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