South Africa’s recession deepened in the first quarter of 2020, with official data on Tuesday showing that GDP contracted 2% from the previous three months, led by declines in mining and manufacturing.
It was the third consecutive quarter of contraction and followed a 1.4% decline in GDP in the October to December quarter.
Statistics South Africa said mining contracted by 21.5% in the January to March quarter, while manufacturing was down 8.5%.
Compared to the same period a year ago, GDP shrank 0.1% in the first quarter after a 0.5% decline in the fourth quarter of 2019.
National treasury sees GDP contracting by 7.2% this year.
