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 »

South Africa’s economy grew by 0,7% in the third quarter of 2015, according to preliminary estimates of real gross domestic product (GDP) released by Stats SA. Unless otherwise stated, growth rates are quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted and annualised. After experiencing a 1,3% contraction in the second quarter, the marginal GDP growth in the third quarter staved   read more »

Media Invite                                                        19 November 2015 Stats SA releases Gross domestic product (GDP), Q3 2015 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Mr Pali Lehohla, will release the Gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for the third quarter of 2015 at a media briefing to be held on Tuesday, 24 November 2015 in Pretoria. The media briefing will be   read more »

Media Release                                                                                          17 November 2015 Private sector companies record turnover increases The total turnover for private sector enterprises1 operating in the South African economy increased by 10,9% to R7 766 625 million (R7,8 trillion) in 2014, from R7 001 362 million (R7,0 trillion) in 2013. For the reference period, turnover increased in   read more »

Manufacturing production increased by 5,6% year-on-year in July 2015, driven mostly by a 39,6% year-on-year production rise in the automotive industry and a 17,4% year-on-year rise in the metals and machinery industry. It would be tempting to rejoice in response to these pronounced increases, but the figures don’t tell the whole story. These increases do   read more »

South Africa’s economy contracted by 1,3% (seasonally adjusted and annualised) in the second quarter of 2015, according to preliminary estimates of real gross domestic product (GDP) released by Stats SA. The quarter-on-quarter decrease in overall economic activity was characterised by five of the ten main industry groups shrinking in size, while the other five experienced   read more »

Misinformation and hearsay have the power to influence an economy. Thousands of civil servants resigned from their posts in 2014 and early 2015 in response to rumours about proposed pension reforms. The economic effect was large enough to be seen in recent gross domestic product (GDP) data released by Stats SA. The government services sector   read more »

South Africa’s economy grew by 1,5% in 2014, down from 2,2% in 2013, according to preliminary estimates of real gross domestic product (GDP) released by Stats SA. Eight of the ten industry groups experienced some growth during the year, while two industries shrank in size. The industry that grew the fastest in 2014 was agriculture1,   read more »