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Johannesburg - The latest economic growth figure of 3% represents a marked improvement, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.
"This is a marked improvement on the depressed 0.9% annualised Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth our economy achieved in the first quarter," DA MP Tim Harris said in a statement.
"What is extremely worrying to note, however, is the reported five percent decrease in primary sector economic growth during the second quarter -- a sector that should be at the forefront of job creation in the economy."
Earlier on Tuesday, StatsSA announced that the South African economy grew by three percent in the second quarter of 2013.
This was compared to a 0.9% increase in the real GDP in the first quarter of the year.
Main contributors to the increase in economic activity were the manufacturing industry (1.7%), finance, real estate and business services (0.8%), and the wholesale, retail, and motor trade, and the catering and accommodation industry (0.4%).
Sectors which experienced declines were the mining and quarrying industry at -0.3% and the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry at -0.1%.
Harris said the country had the potential to overcome its problems and to create the millions of jobs needed, with decisive leadership, the right policies and a committed government.
At present, it was lagging behind the rest of the continent.
"The [SA] Reserve Bank recently revised our economic growth forecast for 2013 down to two percent while the rest of Africa is expected to grow at an average rate of 5.5% this year," he said.
"Our economic growth is also lagging far behind other developing economies like Thailand at 4.3%, Indonesia at 5.9% and Chile at 4.6%."
Nominal GDP at market prices in the second quarter of 2013 was R836bn, which was R23bn more than the first quarter of 2013.
The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry expanded by R19bn to R33bn in the second quarter of 2013.
General government services expanded by R7bn to R127bn, while the wholesale, retail and motor trade; catering and accommodation expanded by R5bn to R120bn.
The manufacturing industry decreased by R1bn to R89bn. Finance, real estate and business services declined by R1bn to R160bn.
