South Africa’s GDP growth rate was -1.2% in the first quarter of 2016, according to Statistics SA. Furthermore, expenditure on real GDP fell by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2016. The main contributors to the negative growth rate included the mining and quarrying industry (down 18.1%) and the transport, storage and communication industry (down 2.7%). Moreover, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, and the electricity, gas and water sector also contracted significantly (-6.5% for the former and -2.8% for the latter). Conversely, finance, real estate and business services was the strongest performer in value added in the first quarter, increasing by 1.9%, primarily due to growth in finance and real estate services.
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