Johannesburg (awp/afp) – The South African economy contracted by 0.1% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous one, according to figures published on Tuesday, a few days after legislative elections which saw the ANC in been able to lose its absolute majority for thirty years.
The decline in gross domestic product (GDP) from January to March follows an upwardly revised progression of 0.3% in the last quarter of 2023, said the national statistics agency StatsSA.
Africa’s second-largest economy remains close to recession; activity also contracted in the third quarter of 2023, according to the same Source.
“Weakening manufacturing, mining and construction contributed significantly to the contraction,” StatsSA said.
Mining production contracted by 2.3%, with the platinum, coal, gold and manganese sectors the main drags on growth, the agency added.
In the last quarter of 2023, production in the mining industry, a key sector in South Africa, had rebounded.
In the first quarter of 2024 the construction industry declined by 3.1%, while agriculture was the largest contributor to growth, with an expansion of 13.5%, “fueled mainly by a dynamic horticultural sector which recorded an increase in fruit production.
In 2023 the South African economy had particularly suffered from the slump in the agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors.
The stagnation of the economy, weighed down in particular by repeated power cuts and high unemployment, was a major subject during the national election campaign last week.
The African National Congress (ANC) won only 40% of the votes during the legislative elections, the results of which were announced on Sunday, far from the 57.5% obtained in 2019.
The party is in discussions with other political parties to form a coalition government.
The ANC remains the largest party in Parliament, which will be responsible for electing the next president in June.
Sunday’s results mark a historic turning point for South Africa, where the ANC has had an absolute majority since the end of racial segregation and the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela, the hero of the anti-apartheid struggle. .
afp/rp
