South Africa's economy contracts in Q3
South Africa's economy shrank in the third quarter.
Releasing the figures on Tuesday, Stats SA said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 1.5 percent in the period from July to September.
It follows four quarters of consecutive growth.
The agency says six of the ten industries recorded a decline in production in quarter 3.
Agriculture, trade and manufacturing had the largest decreases.
Economist Mike Schulsser says the GDP numbers were expected.
He says many factors had a hand in the negative growth.
"South Africans have become poorer in the last decade, and we can't blame Covid too much for this, but we can blame the riots in KwaZulu-Natal.
"We can blame the ineptitude of our people and Transnet and the right to guard the rail infrastructure and to keep harbours open.
"So this is a very bad GPD number and I suspect when we look at the provinces, KwaZulu-Natal is going to look awful."
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