GDP sees 0.2% decrease as troubled sectors continue to take strain

South Africa's GDP decreased by 0.2% in the third quarter of 2023, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.

While manufacturing, construction and mining took a 1.3%, 2.8%, and 1.1% decline in their contribution to GDP in the third quarter of 2023 respectively, agriculture caught the worst of the decreases for the period.

“The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry decreased by 9.6% in the third quarter of 2023, contributing -0.3 of a percentage point to the negative GDP growth. This was primarily due to decreased economic activities reported for field crops, animal products and horticulture products,” Stats SA said about the third quarter data.

According to Stats SA, the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry gained 31.4% in the third quarter of 2022, contributing 0.8 percentage points to GDP growth for that quarter.

The broader agriculture sector is facing challenges including avian flu, load-shedding, logistics constraints, water supply challenges and the coming El Nino-El Nina events.

Mining, manufacturing and construction continue to battle with energy and logistics crises.

“The manufacturing industry decreased by 1.3% in the third quarter, contributing -0.1 of a percentage point,” Stats SA said.

Eight of the 10 manufacturing divisions reported negative growth rates in the third quarter, it said.

The seasonally adjusted and annualised value of inventory saw a significant drawdown in the third quarter.

“There was a R44.5bn drawdown of inventories in the third quarter of 2023. Large decreases in three industries — namely manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and transport, storage and communication — contributed to the inventory drawdown.”

Mining and quarrying decreased by 1.1% in the third quarter with decreased economic activity for platinum group metals, gold, other metallic minerals and manganese ore.

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