By Giwa SHILE
South Africa’s economy expanded at the end of last year helped by growth in agriculture and manufacturing, Statistics South Africa data showed on Tuesday.
The agency said in Pretoria that the economy grew 1.4 per cent in October to December after expanding by a revised 2.6 per cent in the third quarter.
The growth slightly lagged market expectations of a quarter-on-quarter GDP expansion of 1.6 per cent, according to a Reuters’ poll.
Analysts say the expansion is a boost for President Cyril Ramaphosa who has pledged to re-start growth after a decade of stagnation.
The rand extended its session gains after the data, trading 0.51 per cent firmer at 14.1275 per dollar in early morning trading.
The statistics agency said farming expanded 7.9 per cent in the quarter, while manufacturing rose 4.5 per cent.
Mining, however, fell 3.8 per cent.
On an annual basis, South Africa’s economy grew by 0.8 per cent compared to a revised 1.4 per cent expansion in 2017. —-Reuters
