STORY: South African economy contracts marginally in Q3
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 5, 2023
DATELINE: Dec. 7, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:22
LOCATION: JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the conference
2. SOUNDBITE (English): RISENGA MALULEKE, Statistician General, STATS SA

STORYLINE:

After two consecutive quarters of growth, South African real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter (July-September) of 2023.

The contributions to the performance of the economy were evenly spread between the industries on the production side of the economy. The contributions ranged from -0.3 of a percentage point to +0.1 of a percentage point.

On the household front, strained consumers cut back on consumption expenditure for a second consecutive quarter, reducing their spending on items such as transport, recreation and housing utilities, while spending more on items such as clothing & footwear and restaurants & hotels.

SOUNDBITE (English): RISENGA MALULEKE, Statistician General, STATS SA
"Well, one thing that we have seen is that our economy from the beginning of the year grew at 0.4 percent as of the first quarter of 2023, going into 0.5 percent as revised 0.5 percent as of the second quarter 2023, and indeed in this quarter that we are reporting on, it has gone on a slump and 0.2 percent in the negative. Having said so, we are saying that when you look at utilities (such) as electricity, gas and water, they've gone on the decrease largely due to the production and consumption of electricity, but specifically when you want to look at the impact of the load shedding, you can say that it was only at the end of the quarter, because it was just one month in the quarter, in the month of September, but otherwise, the two months we're doing very well in terms of energy."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa.
(XHTV)