JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s economic growth accelerated in the second quarter of 2013 as the manufacturing sector grew 11,5%, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said yesterday.
Reuters
Africa’s biggest economy expanded 3% on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the second quarter, compared with 0,9% in the first quater. Economists, in a poll by Reuters, had forecast quarterly growth of 3,3%.
The rise in manufacturing was the highest since the first quarter of 2011 and was due to a recovery in base metals, Stats SA said. Manufacturing contributes about 15% to South Africa’s gross domestic product.
However, strikes that hit car manufacturing in early August are set to spread to the gold mining industry, which will likely weigh on economic growth in the third quarter.
“We are trying to understand what the impact of today’s strikes is and whether we are going to see more strikes in the next week or so,” said Jeff Gable, an economist at Absa Capital.
On an unadjusted year-on-year basis, the economy grew 2,0% in the second quarter from 1,9% in the previous three months.
