SA recession deepens as pre-coronavirus lockdown GDP falls by 2%

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke says this data doesn't include post lockdown data of the economy's performance.

Statistics South Africa on Tuesday announced that the country's economy decreased by 2% in the first quarter of 2020.

The gross domestic product for the period is a 2% decline as compared to a 3.2% contraction for the same period last year which means the country's recession is deepening.

RELATED: South Africa's unemployment rate swells to 30.1% in first quarter - Stats SA

This data however, doesn't include post lockdown data on the economy's performance.

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke tells Lester Kiewit on the Midday Report that the effects of COVID-19 are not only based on when South Africa instituted its lockdown, other countries were already implemented travel restrictions.

This is apparent in areas like manufacturing, mining as well as imports and exports.

The larger contribution to the negative growth came from mining, which is sitting at a growth of -21.5 %. While there was positive growth from agriculture, it couldn't offset the negative growth from mining, manufacturing, utilities, construction and trade.

Risenga Maluleke, Statistician-General

He says COVID-19 is not only affecting South Africa but impacting every facet of life all over the world.

[Thread]
The South African economy recorded its third consecutive quarter of economic decline, falling by 2,0% in Q1:2020.#StatsSA #GDP #economy pic.twitter.com/ahJRFtCkTF

— Stats SA (@StatsSA) June 30, 2020

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