FOOTNOTES
HILARY JOFFE: The broad-based malaise behind the recession includes the mining sector
If the bleak first-quarter GDP figures are anything to go by, companies’ domestic results across several sectors will not look good for the first half of this year – unless the second quarter stages an unexpectedly strong recovery. As the experts trawl through the details of the big "R" story that Tuesday’s GDP figures tell, it’s becoming clear that the malaise of SA’s economy is much more broad-based than many might have realised. That’s certainly the case with the consumer and services sectors, which tanked, to the shock and horror of many in the market. But it turns out to apply even in the case of mining – which is one of only two sectors that showed growth. The mining sector had been in decline for three of the past five years and two of the past five quarters. But it seemed, happily, to bounce in the first quarter, growing at almost 13% seasonally adjusted and annualised, thanks to higher gold and "other" metals including platinum, according to Statistics SA.Sadly, however, th...
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