Economy grew 1.2% – Stats SA
The economy grew by 1.2% in the third quarter of the year, Stats SA has said.
It said this was the lowest growth in the real gross domestic product (GDP) since the second quarter of 2009.
The main contributors to the increase in economic activity were finance, real estate, business services and general government service, with each contributing 0.4 of a percentage point.
In the first nine months of 2012, the economy grew by 2.6% compared with the same period in 2011.
The agriculture, forestry, fishing industry, manufacturing industry, wholesale, retail, motor trade, catering and accommodation industry each contributed 0.2 of a percentage point.
The unadjusted real GDP at market prices for the third quarter of 2012 increased by 2.3% compared with the third quarter of 2011.
As expected, the mining and quarrying sector contracted by -12.7%.
“There were a lot of factors which contributed to the decline. It was not the strikes, because the strikes only started at the end of the third quarter,” said Gerhardt Bouwer, executive manager of national accounts at Stats SA.
“These figures do not fully reflect the impact of Marikana strikes (and other mining strikes) because a lot of striking activities took place in the fourth quarter of 2012.”
Bouwer declined to predict whether the recent strikes in various sectors of the economy could lead to even lower GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2012.
He said the Lonmin mine was only the third-largest platinum producer and that other big producers had continued production during the Marikana strike.
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