Patrick Kelly, Executive Manager for Price Statistics, provides some insights into how inflation affects the most vulnerable. The combined effect of the severe drought and the depreciation of the rand drove annual food inflation to 9,8% in March, its highest level in four years. Periods of high food inflation often spark an outpouring of concern   read more »

MEDIA ADVISORY 10 May 2016 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release a report on Development in the rural and urban nodes between 2001 and 2011, at a media briefing to be held on Thursday 12, May 2016. The report presents the state of development in rural and urban nodes with regards   read more »

Many have commented on South Africa’s drought and how rapidly food prices have been rising. The latest release of Stats SA’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) unpacks the South African food basket to examine which items might be contributing to your rising grocery bill. Imagine a basket sitting in front you, filled with a range of   read more »

MEDIA INVITE Quarterly Employment Statistics 2015 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release the results of the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) Q4 of 2015 at a media briefing to be held on Wednesday 23, March 2016 in Pretoria. Date: 23 March 2016 Lock- up: 14H00 Embargo: 14H30 Venue: GCIS Tshedimosetso House, Cnr   read more »

South Africa’s economy grew by 1,3% in 2015, down from 1,5% in 2014 and 2,2% in 2013, according to preliminary estimates of real gross domestic product (GDP) published by Stats SA. Overall economic growth in 2015 was characterised by two of the main industry groups shrinking in size, while the other eight experienced some growth.   read more »

24 February 2016 Media Invite       Stats SA releases Gross domestic product (GDP), Q4  2015 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release the Gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for the fourth quarter of 2015 at a media briefing to be held on Tuesday, 1 March 2016 in Pretoria. The media briefing will be   read more »

Much has been said about the importance of tourism, particularly of its role in economic growth, employment and attracting foreign exchange. The latest Tourism Satellite Account for South Africa report provides indicators of tourism’s role in these three spheres. Time series for much of the data are now available (10 years).   Tourism as a   read more »

The South African economy was hit hard by the global economic crisis of 2008/2009. The country’s manufacturing industry contracted sharply, and its subsequent recovery has been insufficient for the volume of manufacturing production to return to its pre-crisis level. Figure 1 shows SA’s manufacturing production (volume) compared with OECD industrial production.1 Preliminary manufacturing data for   read more »

The September 2015 Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey showed that an estimated 8 951 000 persons were employed in the formal non-agricultural sector of the South African economy. This reflected a quarterly increase of 7 000 employees (+0,1%) between June 2015 and September 2015 and an annual increase of 4 000 employees (0,0%) between September   read more »

Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Financial Statistics report provides detailed financial statistics on the private sector, for the quarter ending September 2015. How did business turnover fare over this period? The following short article covers key turnover statistics from the report. Total turnover Total turnover in the private sector increased by 3,3% in the September 2015   read more »