Only mining and manufacturing data are scheduled for release this week and the numbers are likely to remain desultory, reflecting the continued global and domestic slowdown as well as SA’s structural economic constraints. Mining production has contracted for three consecutive months. The February release, which is due out on Thursday, is not expected to differ much from the 3.3% year-on-year contraction recorded in January. "The sector has been plagued with slowing global growth, particularly in China, strike action, sluggish commodity prices and rotational load-shedding. "These factors are expected to have weighed heavily on February production volumes," says First National Bank (FNB) chief economist Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya. According to Capital Economics, the emerging world has entered its first synchronised downturn since 2015. Though stimulus efforts by the Chinese government should help shore up its growth rate in the coming months, given that the scale of policy support bei...
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