South Africa’s economy contracted by 0.7 percent in the second quarter in quarter-on-quarter terms, pushing the country into recession after a revised 2.6 percent contraction in the first quarter, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Tuesday.
The second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) reading was much worse than the 0.6 percent expansion analysts had predicted.
Stats SA data also showed economic output rose 0.4 percent on an unadjusted year-on-year basis in the second quarter, versus analysts’ predictions for growth of 1.0 percent.