'Little hope of improved growth' - economist.

While the 2Q2012 GDP growth data showed the economy coming back, FNB chief economist Cees Bruggemans has warned that there is as yet little reason to suppose that growth prospects will improve any time soon. While annualised GDP growth bounced higher from 2.7% to 3.2%, this improvement was entirely due to the primary sectors, with agriculture gaining 5.8% and mining output increasing a whopping 31% as its output recovered from the sharp strike-related fall-off in 1Q2012, he said. “But strip mining out and the remainder of GDP grew by barely 1.9%,” he added. With the 1Q2012 doing 2.1% year-on-year and 2Q2012 doing 3% growth, GDP in the 1H2012 has now averaged 2.5%. With the 3Q2012 likely to see another relapse in mining output following extensive labour unrest, and especially industry and services sectors only growing very modestly, the prospect for the 2H2012 is not encouraging, he said.