Capital investment slumps 4.5% in first quarter
The improvement in public-sector spending came off a low base, however, and was due to a strong investment drive by state-owned companies, despite financial and governance challenges, the bulletin read.
The decline in private-sector spending was consistent with the subdued economic activity and depressed business confidence during the period, the Reserve Bank said.
SA’s economy contracted a shock 3.2% in the first quarter compared to the last quarter of 2018, with the Reserve Bank’s bulletin showing that this was largely due to a sharp decrease in exports.
The decline in exports shaved of 7.5 percentage points off SA’s growth rate, although this was offset by increased domestic expenditure, notably by the government.
SAs trade surplus narrowed from R71.8bn in the fourth quarter of 2018 to R43.0bn in the first quarter of 2019, as the value of net gold and merchandise exports decreased more than that of merchandise imports.
Source: businesslive.co.za
