The South African economy grew by 0.2% in the third quarter of 2016. Although this is the second straight quarter of growth for the year‚ it is down by 3.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. The largest contributors to gross domestic product (GDP) growth was mining and quarrying‚ general government services, and finance‚ growing by 5.1%‚ 1.8% and 1.2% and contributing 0.4 percentage point‚ 0.3 percentage point and 0.2 percentage point to growth respectively. Marginal growth was also noted in the personal services‚ construction and transport sectors. In contrast‚ the manufacturing industry‚ electricity (including water and gas) and the trade industry all contracted significantly compared to the previous quarter. The manufacturing industry contracted by 3.2%‚ compared to 8.1% expansion the previous quarter. The electricity sector shrank further by 2.9%‚ compared to a 1.8% decline in the second quarter while the trade industry recorded its first contraction for the fir...
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