JOHANNESBURG: The South African economy contracted by a whopping 51 per cent on an annualised basis in Q2, 2020, government data showed on Tuesday.
The 51 per cent drop in the three months through June was worse than many analysts were expecting and marks the fourth consecutive quarter of negative economic growth for South Africa.
“This is the first time in history that the South African economy has contracted for four straight quarters,” Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke told a news conference. The rand fell roughly 1 per cent against the dollar on the data to trade at 16.9325 to the dollar.
Joe de Beer, another top official at Statistics South Africa, said after adjusting for inflation, the economy was roughly the same size in the April-June quarter as in the first quarter of 2007.
Most sectors declined steeply except for agriculture, which grew 15.1 per cent in the second quarter from January-March, helped by fruit and nut exports, and better-than-average winter rainfall.
Mining declined 73.1 per cent, manufacturing 74.9 per cent and construction 76.6 per cent. GDP for the whole economy shrank 17.1 per cent from the same period in 2019.