South Africa’s economy contracted for the first time in more than a year during the second quarter of 2015, signaling continued strain that could inhibit the central bank from raising interest rates further, Reuters reported. Gross domestic product in Africa’s most industrialized economy declined by 1.3% in the second quarter after rising 1.3% in the first three months of the year, Statistics South Africa said. This was the first quarter-on-quarter decline in Africa’s most advanced economy since the first three months of 2014, and was far below the most pessimistic forecast in a Reuters survey of economists.
