RECESSION
Drought, not policy uncertainty, blamed for agriculture crash
The alarming agriculture figures that dragged SA into recession were not the result of policy uncertainty about land reform. Instead, the sector has been weighed down by drought and delayed harvests, with statistician-general Risenga Maluleke saying last week that the decrease "was mainly because of a drop in the production of field crops and horticultural products". SA’s agriculture output shrank by a huge 29.2% in the second quarter of 2018, after a 24.2% contraction in the first quarter. This dragged growth down for the second consecutive quarter. The GDP figures showed that the economy is in a recession for the first time since the global financial crisis. In February, the National Assembly adopted a resolution brought by the EFF to begin a process to amend the constitution allowing land expropriation without compensation. But there has been persistent uncertainty about how this will be carried out. A joint constitutional review committee is holding public hearings on the possib...
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