Economy: Economists expect growth to lose steam

South Africa’s economic growth will slow through the rest of this year after a strong second quarter performance, according to a poll of economists, who blamed widespread industrial strife for the slowdown. Surveyed over the past 10 days, the poll’s 19 economists trimmed their median growth outlook for this year to 2 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than last month’s consensus. Data two weeks ago showed economic growth hit an annualised 3 percent in the second quarter, up from 0.9 percent in the first quarter, partly due to the gradual improvement in developed world economies. But that looks set to slow markedly this quarter to 2.3 percent after strikes in the key mining industry. The poll’s median forecast for inflation this year was unchanged from last month’s poll at 5.9 percent. Economists expect the central bank to keep the repo rate at 5 percent through next year. – Reuters