Stats SA announced on Tuesday that South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) has bounced back with a 2.5 percent growth for the second quarter of the year. This means that South Africa has broken out of a technical recession.
A technical recession refers to a period of two consecutive quarters of contraction in the economy; GDP declined 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2017. This latest rebound means that the country dodged a full-out recession.
"The reality is the economy, which is set to grow at just 0.5% this year, is growing too slowly."David Maynier MP - DA Shadow Minister of Finance
Statistician general Pali Lehohla said growth in the agricultural sector had "shot through the roof" by 33.6 percent and contributed 0.7 percent to overall GDP growth, while mining grew 3.9 percent.
Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier, however, said that GDP growth was not doing much for the unemployed.
"The fact is that radical economic transformation is killing the economy and that is why we need a fundamental shift in economic policy to boost economic growth and create jobs in South Africa," he said.
Maynier said the economy, which is set to grow at just 0.5 percent this year, was growing too slowly to increase the level of per capita income for the 30.4 million people living below the poverty line, or to increase the level of employment for the 9.3 million people who do not have jobs, or have given up looking for jobs, in South Africa.