Südafrika Bip-Wachstum

The South African economy expanded by 0.6% in Q4 2024, recovering from a revised 0.1% contraction in the prior quarter. While the growth fell short of the 0.9% forecast, it was enough to prevent the country from entering a recession. Three sectors showed positive growth, with agriculture (+17.2%) contributing the most, followed by trade (+1.4%) and finance (+1.1%). On the demand side, household consumption (+1.1%) played a key role in driving growth, supported by low inflation and two interest rate cuts in the second half of last year. Meanwhile, both government spending (-0.8%) and fixed investment (-0.7%) decreased. Inventories added 0.2 percentage points, while net exports had no impact, with exports and imports rising by 2.1% and 2.0%, respectively. On a yearly basis, the GDP rose by 0.9% in Q4, following an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in the previous period. The economy expanded by 0.6% in 2024, the slowest growth since 2020, after a revised 0.7% increase in the previous year.