Mpumalanga avoided recession in first quarter of 2017

Monday, 04 November 2017

MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Sikhumbuzo Kholwane says the Province avoided technical recession in the first quarter of 2017.

Presenting the 2017 Provincial Adjustments Budget on Tuesday (21 November 2017) MEC Kholwane said the Province was cushioned from recession due to a favourable performance of the mining industry, which is also one of the three main economic sectors of the Mpumalanga's economy.

“The Provincial economy was, unlike the South African economy, technically not in recession in the first quarter of this year.

“The relatively good performance of especially mining and agriculture sectors, were Mpumalanga’s saving grace in this regard.

“Agriculture recorded very high growth rates of 23.1 per cent in the first quarter and 33.6 per cent in the second quarter.

“Mining also recorded relatively high growth rates of 13.1 and 3.9 per cent in the same quarters of 2017”, said MEC Kholwane.

Despite this overall economic performance, MEC Kholwane cautioned that, these high quarterly Provincial growth rates in the first part of 2017 are not expected to have a significant impact on the Mpumalanga annual growth outcome.

South Africa moved out of a technical recession with a growth of 2.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2017, with strong near-term improvement in agriculture.