Johannesburg | Wednesday
South Africa’s economy grew 2.2 percent last year, a decline of 1,2% from performance in 2000 but a fair outcome given the global economic slowdown, Statistics South Africa (SSA) said on Wednesday.
”We showed better growth than many emerging economies and our economic fundamentals are right,” said Mike Manamela, SSA’s deputy director for the gross domestic product (GDP).
He said that real annual GDP at market prices increased 2,2% during 2001, boosted by an upsurge in the manufacturing and services industries.
Manufacturing particular in the motor vehicle and petroleum industries contributed 5,6% in the fourth quarter and the wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants were up four percent.
The weakening of the rand, particularly in the fourth quarter, contributed to this increase as export volumes were up, Manamela said.
The rand lost about 40%of its value during 2001.
SSA observed in a statement: ”The growth performance for the fourth quarter is somewhat inflated by the increase, from a low base.”
The GDP for the last quarter was up to 2,5% from 1,2% in the third quarter.
Both agriculture and mining were down in the fourth quarter by 2,4% This resulted from a decline in the production of field crops and a decline in the production of precious metals.
”The agricultural sector had problems with rain and flooding, harming their crops,” Manamela explained.
Statistics South Africa declared: ”Not a single important first world country is growing faster than South Africa.
”Also having languished at the bottom of the emerging market group for some time in terms of growth, we are suddenly growing faster than stars such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Mexico.”
The government’s official statistics’ body projected, however, the economy would ”battle to grow faster than two percent” during 2002.
Financial analyst Dawie Roodt, chief economist with PLJ Financial Services, had a similar view. ”This year I expect growth will be lower at about 1.5 to two percent but next year there will be an economic upswing.
”Next year growth could reach about four percent, we will rock and roll,” he projected.
Roodt said the last year’s growth was in line with what was expected and that South Africa had done well in the light of the global economic slowdown.
But he pointed out: ”The growth is roughly in line with population growth, which means per capita people are not richer.” – AFP