South Africa has narrowly averted a technical recession as the economy grew by 0.7 percent in the third quarter, data from Statistics South Africa showed.
“The seasonally adjusted real GDP at market prices for the third quarter of 2015 increased by an annualised rate of 0,7 per cent compared with a decrease of 1,3 per cent during the second quarter of 2015,” Stats SA said on Tuesday.
The manufacturing industry, finance, real estate and business services and the wholesale, retail and motor trade; catering and accommodation industry were the main contributors to the increase.
The mining and agriculture sectors contracted in the third quarter due to the lower commodities prices and the drought respectively.
“The unadjusted real GDP at market prices for the third quarter of 2015 increased by 1,0 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2014. The estimate of GDP for the first nine months of 2015 increased by 1,5 per cent compared with the corresponding period in 2014,” Stats SA said.