By Dipo Olowookere
South Africa has exited recession three months after it slipped into an economic crisis, the country’s stats office has disclosed.
A release by the Statistics South Africa (SSA) said the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.2 percent in the third quarter of 2018.
SSA had in September 2018 announced that South Africa slipped into recession in the second quarter of this year for the first time since 2009 after the economy contracted by 0.7 percent.
The slip was caused by declines in the agricultural, transport and retail sectors.
Though South Africa, one of the biggest economies in Africa, has exited recession, StatsSA said there are still red flags to acknowledge.
The GDP grew in the third quarter as a result of growth recorded by agriculture, which appreciated in the period under consideration by 6.5 percent. During the quarter, there was an increase in field crops, and a spike in the amount of horticultural and animal products that have been purchased.
According to StatsSA, the manufacturing sector of the economy went up by 7.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the second.