PRETORIA
South Africa slipped into technical recession for the first time since 2009 after the economy contracted in the first quarter, led by weak manufacturing and trade sectors, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
Africa’s most developed economy contracted by 0.7 percent in the first quarter after shrinking by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the statistics agency said.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a quarter-on-quarter GDP expansion of 0.9 percent.