South African economy grows slightly less than expected in Q2
2024.09.03 05:51
PRETORIA (Reuters) -South Africa’s economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter , slightly less than expected, data from the statistics agency showed on Tuesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had predicted quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.5% in the April-June period.
Second-quarter gross domestic product grew 0.3% on a year-on-year basis, compared with forecasts for 0.4% growth.
Seven of the 10 sectors tracked by Statistics South Africa registered growth in the latest three-month period, as the economy benefited from an unbroken stretch without power cuts for the first time in years.
But economists said political uncertainty linked to May’s national election, lingering bottlenecks at ports and on the freight rail network, and weak global demand continued to drag on output.
“It’s a big step forward to not have power disruptions, but (we’re) not there yet in terms of all the other constraints that we have to deal with,” said Lisette IJssel de Schepper, chief economist at the Bureau for Economic Research.
