Donwald Pressly
Global economic headwinds in combination with local structural constraints, specific challenges related to the mining sector and the Marikana tragedy had “led to lower economic growth prospects for 2012”, Pravin Gordhan said in the foreword to the medium-term budget policy statement.
The Treasury estimated that the total value of production lost to platinum and gold mining strikes “and stoppages since the (start) of the year has amounted to about R10.1 billion”.
DA finance spokesman Tim Harris put the figure at a more conservative R2.5bn – a loss to the SA Revenue Service – in a statement yesterday.
Gordhan said: “Declining mining output and the spread of strike activity have depressed… related industries including manufacturing, logistics and services, with negative consequences for the gross domestic product (GDP), tax revenues, exports and employment. The impact will be larger if strike activity is protracted.”
Real value added in mining contracted 6.3 percent in the first half of the year, compared with the same period last year, “following a sharp decline in platinum group metals output”. The platinum price declined by 14.2 percent to $1 427 (R12 499) an ounce between February and July, but rebounded above $1 650 an ounce in September “as supply was limited by strikes”. In the year to August, mining output fell by 3.3 percent, with production of platinum group metals 15.3 percent lower.
Continued “strong growth” in iron ore, spurred by Chinese demand, had offset some of the decline in platinum, gold and coal. Food and beverages and motor vehicles contrasted sharply with the metals sub-sector where output had fallen sharply and remained significantly below prerecession levels, the finance minister said.