South Africa’s seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 1.3% in the second quarter of 2015, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said this week.
Responding to the latest GDP figures, economists at Nedbank said in statement that the economic outlook remained relatively weak, commenting that apart from the adverse effects of electricity supply shortages and fading competitiveness, the world economy had also become less supportive.
"The global stock market rout, uncertainty around the pace of US monetary policy normalisation, risk-averse global investors, signs of a steeper deceleration in Chinese economic activity, and the continual slide in global commodity prices are likely to hurt domestic confidence, undermine capital expenditure, aggravate unemployment, add to inflation, push interest rates higher and limit economic growth,” said Nedbank.
The bank still forecasts a GDP growth of 2 % in 2015 as a whole followed by a slower 1.8 % in 2016.
SA’s GDP growth falls for Q2 and outlook remains weak
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