South African gross domestic product shrank 2.2% in the first quarter, led by a slowdown in agriculture and mining, after expanding 3.1% in the final three months of last year, Reuters reported. However, the survey of 24 economists taken in the past week forecast the economy would grow 1.7% this year. That was only 0.1 percentage point lower than predicted last month and up from a 1.3% forecast at the start of the year. “The rest of the world is doing very, very well, so on the export side of things we will actually start doing better,” said Busisiwe Radebe, an economist at Nedbank. “That is why you see that lift that we are expecting.” Last Friday, Fitch affirmed South Africa’s sub-investment-grade credit rating but noted signs of improvement in governance and prospects of a mild cyclical upturn. However, it doubts new President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts will make a significant difference to the 1.7% growth it expects for this year.
