Johannesburg, South Africa (ADV) – South Africa has achieved a growth of 1.4 percent on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last quarter of 2018, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealed today.
Stats SA Deputy Director-General responsible for economic statistics, Joe de Beer credited this growth to agriculture, transport, manufacturing, finance, personal services and electricity sectors.
“The positive growth in the fourth quarter follows after the positive (growth) we had after the recession in the first half of the year,” he said, adding that the mining, trade, construction and government services were contributing negatively to the GDP.
De Beer further noted that the manufacturing industry expanded by 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter and that the divisions that made the largest contributions to the increase were petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products, motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport products.
“The mining decreased by 3.8 percent and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point to GDP growth, with construction decreasing by 0.7 percent and made a 0 percent to the GDP,” he explained.
De Beers added that the finance, real estate and business services increased by 2.7 percent, and the transport, storage and communication industry increased by 7.7 percent which was attributed to land transport and the transport of support services. While the trade, catering and accommodation industry decreased by 0.7 percent.
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