South Africa enters recession after the economy hits a slump

- For the third time since 1994, South Africa has entered a recession

- In 2019, the country's economy saw only growth of 0.8% and in the fourth quarter, it shrank by 1.4%

- This is according to data revealed by Statistics South Africa

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South Africans have received disturbing news on Tuesday, 3 March - the country is in recession.

The country's economy has shrunk by a huge 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and suffered a contraction of 0.8% in the third quarter.

For the whole of last year, the economy only grew with 0.2% and in 2018, the economy only saw 0.8%'s growth.

This is according to information that was released by Statistics SA.

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This is South Africa's third recession since 1994, Briefly.co.za learnt.

The decline has been influenced by load-shedding, which South Africans feel has brought the country to a standstill more than once.

Agriculture has taken the biggest loss with -7.6% in the fourth quarter. The manufacturing industry saw a decline of 1.8% in the fourth quarter and transport, storage and communication industries shrunk by 7.2%.

Amid all this, household spending continues to grow and in the last quarter of 2019, it saw an increase of 1.4%.

With load-shedding as a cause to worry, it looks likely that the economy will continue to suffer because of power outages.

South Africans keep hoping that load-shedding would end and become a distant, bad memory.

However, that isn't likely to happen soon as the power utility announced load-shedding will continue for at least 18 more months.

This comes after Minister Gwede Mantashe said a new power generating company is a possible plan.

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Source: Briefly News