PRETORIA (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy unexpected contracted in the third quarter of this year, driven by a big drop in agricultural production, statistics agency data showed on Tuesday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% in seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter terms, whereas economists polled by Reuters had predicted an expansion of 0.5%.
Statistics South Africa said agriculture contracted 28.8% in the third quarter, primarily due to field crops.
“Maize and soy account for about 70% of field crops and we know they have had a difficult quarter due to drought,” statistician Joe de Beer told reporters.
Southern Africa has faced is worst drought in decades this year, hurting economic output across the region.
South Africa’s third-quarter GDP grew 0.3% on a year-on-year basis, also worse than the 1.2% growth predicted by economists.
(Reporting by Kopano Gumbi; Additional reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning)
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