Publications
Partners
The green hut is the unlikely Ilanca Fire restaurant at Bululunga Lodge.
Bloemfontein - In July the KwaZulu-Natal economy began to slide compared with the previous three months, with four sectors in the red and three growing less than 1%.
The overall index was indeed 7.1% up on a year ago, but on a monthly and quarterly basis it was in decline.
Unlike the inland mining provinces, KwaZulu-Natal did not see a revival in its mining index.
“Mining makes a very small contribution to the provincial economy and consists virtually only of coal, so the upturn in the gold mining industry does not have an impact,” said Mike Schüssler of Economists.co.za, the compiler of the KwaZulu-Natal barometer.
Taken year-on-year (y/y), the best performance in July was by the government index (17.8% up).
“This is a rather large rise, but the fact that the index rose only 0.9% quarter-on-quarter shows that government expenditure may have been a bit overdone and is now being cut back again,” said Schüssler.
Another strong sector is transport, up 13.3% on a year ago. Quarter-on-quarter, however, there has been a 3.6% decline.
Schüssler is somewhat concerned about the muted performance of the province’s manufacturing index (2.2% up on a year ago), and believes the sector could slow further this year.
The struggling financial, property and financial services sector appears to be turning around.
In July the index fell 2.9% – its smallest drop in eight months. Property transfers increased 7.1% y/y, while the number of civil indebtedness cases was 29.4% down.
The number of advertisements sold also declined – 6.5% y/y.
Trade is lively and the index rose 7.8% y/y in July. This is largely owing to a 33.3% rise in vehicle sales. Hotels and restaurants however had a quiet period, down by 6.8%.
Schüssler was pleased to see that the stress index, which measures factors like unemployment, inflation and interest rates, declined 0.4% y/y in July.
- Sake24
The overall index was indeed 7.1% up on a year ago, but on a monthly and quarterly basis it was in decline.
Unlike the inland mining provinces, KwaZulu-Natal did not see a revival in its mining index.
“Mining makes a very small contribution to the provincial economy and consists virtually only of coal, so the upturn in the gold mining industry does not have an impact,” said Mike Schüssler of Economists.co.za, the compiler of the KwaZulu-Natal barometer.
Taken year-on-year (y/y), the best performance in July was by the government index (17.8% up).
“This is a rather large rise, but the fact that the index rose only 0.9% quarter-on-quarter shows that government expenditure may have been a bit overdone and is now being cut back again,” said Schüssler.
Another strong sector is transport, up 13.3% on a year ago. Quarter-on-quarter, however, there has been a 3.6% decline.
Schüssler is somewhat concerned about the muted performance of the province’s manufacturing index (2.2% up on a year ago), and believes the sector could slow further this year.
The struggling financial, property and financial services sector appears to be turning around.
In July the index fell 2.9% – its smallest drop in eight months. Property transfers increased 7.1% y/y, while the number of civil indebtedness cases was 29.4% down.
The number of advertisements sold also declined – 6.5% y/y.
Trade is lively and the index rose 7.8% y/y in July. This is largely owing to a 33.3% rise in vehicle sales. Hotels and restaurants however had a quiet period, down by 6.8%.
Schüssler was pleased to see that the stress index, which measures factors like unemployment, inflation and interest rates, declined 0.4% y/y in July.
- Sake24
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
