Bloemfontein - In January this year KwaZulu-Natal’s economy delivered its best performance in almost five years, as indicated by the Sake24 and BoE Private Clients' KwaZulu-Natal Barometer.
The province’s overall index rose 11.6% year-on-year (y/y) in January.
The best-performing sectors were government expenditure (19.6% up on a year ago), transport (14.7% up) and agriculture (14.5% up).
Despite a decline in recent months in four of its indices, this province took the lead in economic growth in 2010, and it appears that the private sector economy has now gained a foothold to emerge from the recession, said Mike Schüssler, Economists.co.za director and compiler of the KwaZulu-Natal barometer.
The province’s construction sector (23.9% down y/y) is still under the cosh as it is in the rest of the country. Schüssler cautions that this decline will probably persist for a while yet.
A further negative development was the manufacturing index's small increase of only 1.8% y/y.
This sector will have to be watched carefully this year to discover whether there may be a need for further incentives by the provincial or national government, Schüssler warned.
KwaZulu-Natal can be proud of its performance in the past year and for the next couple of quarters can look to improved growth in most sectors other than construction, Schüssler said.
- Sake24
For business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
For more news on the Sake24/BoE Private Clients barometers, go to www.fin24.com/barometer.
The province’s overall index rose 11.6% year-on-year (y/y) in January.
The best-performing sectors were government expenditure (19.6% up on a year ago), transport (14.7% up) and agriculture (14.5% up).
Despite a decline in recent months in four of its indices, this province took the lead in economic growth in 2010, and it appears that the private sector economy has now gained a foothold to emerge from the recession, said Mike Schüssler, Economists.co.za director and compiler of the KwaZulu-Natal barometer.
The province’s construction sector (23.9% down y/y) is still under the cosh as it is in the rest of the country. Schüssler cautions that this decline will probably persist for a while yet.
A further negative development was the manufacturing index's small increase of only 1.8% y/y.
This sector will have to be watched carefully this year to discover whether there may be a need for further incentives by the provincial or national government, Schüssler warned.
KwaZulu-Natal can be proud of its performance in the past year and for the next couple of quarters can look to improved growth in most sectors other than construction, Schüssler said.
- Sake24
For business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
For more news on the Sake24/BoE Private Clients barometers, go to www.fin24.com/barometer.