JOHANNESBURG - Statistics from Statistics South Africa released today showed that the country moved out of recession in the second quarter of the year after the economy expanded an annualized 2.5% in second quarter of this year.
This marked the end of two-quarters of contraction and beating market expectations of a 2.1% rise in gross domestic product (GDP). It was also the highest growth rate in a year with agriculture, forestry and fishing making the largest upward contribution, namely field crops and horticultural products.
In June, the Stats agency said South Africa slipped into technical recession for the first time since 2009 after the economy contracted in the first quarter, led by weak manufacturing and trade sectors. This is after Africa's most developed economy contracted by 0.7% in the first quarter after shrinking by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of last year.
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Macroeconomics statistics website Trading Economics says GDP Growth Rate in South Africa averaged 2.84% from 1993 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 7.60% in the fourth quarter of 1994 and a record low of -6.10% in the first quarter of 2009.
Meanwhile, Africa’s second biggest economy, Nigeria, also moved out of recession after its ailing economy expanded 0.55 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of the year.