SA’s recession likely over in third quarter
Drop in mining production is unlikely to prevent country from limping back into positive territory
A 19% crash in gold production, which dragged down overall mining output, would not be enough to prevent SA emerging from its first recession in a decade, economists said. The drop in output by gold producers in September was the biggest in almost four years, highlighting the woes of an industry that was once the mainstay of SA’s economy and has in recent years been beset by the cost of operating some of the world’s deepest mines amid an uncertain policy environment. Mining, which made a positive contribution to GDP in the second quarter, declined 2.2% in the three months to September, data from Statistics SA on Thursday showed. The 1.7% growth in manufacturing, together with retail data to be released next week, will probably be enough to ensure that the economy overall limps into a positive reading in the third quarter, to the relief of the government, which has been keen to portray the recession in the first half as technical and temporary. “Most recent statistics suggest that th...
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