PRETORIA, March 10 (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy grew 1.1% in 2025, slower than the country’s central bank and National Treasury had forecast, statistics agency data showed on Tuesday.
* The country’s coalition government is trying to lift thegrowth rate after it has averaged less than 1% annually over thepast decade * Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke told a pressconference that “1% (growth) should not send a lot of excitementout there … because such growth will not be able to containthe joblessness that we see”. * The South African Reserve Bank had predicted a 1.3%increase in gross domestic product last year, and the NationalTreasury a 1.4% expansion. * Fourth-quarter growth of 0.4% was marginally better thanexpected in quarter-on-quarter terms, but at 0.8% on ayear-on-year basis it undershot the median forecast in a Reuterspoll of economists * Five of the 10 sectors tracked by Statistics SouthAfrica grew in the fourth quarter, and five contracted * Growth was mainly concentrated in consumer-facingsectors, whereas primary and secondary parts of the economyshrank * Africa’s biggest economy saw investor confidence rise lastyear thanks to an improving fiscal picture and the government’scommitment to keeping inflation low * Gross fixed capital formation grew 1.3% in the fourthquarter, the second consecutive quarter of growth, mainly drivenby the private sector. But economists say there needs to be muchmore fixed investment to meaningfully boost the growth rate.
(Reporting by Kopano Gumbi and Lulah Mapiye;Writing by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander Winning and Keith Weir)
