GDP growth fairly flat in second quarter of 2021
Statistician-general Risenga Maluleke says the country’s economic growth is similar to that of the fourth quarter of 2017.
On Tuesday, Maluleke released the latest gross domestic product (GDP).
SA’s economy expanded by a mere 1.2% in the second quarter of 2021.
“We will remember that coming out of the first quarter of 2020, our economy was sitting at R1.147 trillion and it dropped in the second quarter to about R947 billion,” he said.
“But again it started rising and recovering out of that and as of the second quarter it is sitting on R1,131 trillion. That is as equivalent as we were in Q4 in 2017.”
The country’s economy has been dealt a huge blow by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, the economy has not been able sufficiently to create jobs due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic.
The main drivers of economic growth are transport, storage and the communication industry., which contributed 6.9%.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing also contributed a sizeable amount to the GDP at 6.2%.
