Cape Town — South Africa's economy turned around in the third quarter of 2009, registering marginal growth, the government's statistics agency reported Wednesday.

"The seasonally adjusted real GDP [gross domestic product] at market prices for the third quarter of 2009 increased by an annualised rate of 0,9 per cent compared with the second quarter of 2009," Statistics SA said in a statement issued in Pretoria.

In the first half of 2009, the country had registered negative growth rates compared with figures six months earlier.

The agency said the main contributors to the turnaround had been manufacturing, general government services and the construction industry and personal services.

But activity in other industries -- finance, real estate, business services, mining and quarrying, agriculture, forestry and fishing, wholesale and retail trade and hotels and restaurants --  had continued to shrink.

The agency also noted that the "unadjusted real GDP at market prices" for the nine months of 2009 had declined compared to the same period in 2008.

The chief executive of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Neren Rau, said it had long believed manufacturing would lead the economy out of recession.

But, it added, "the South African economy remains vulnerable. Failure to recognise the fragility of the improvement will impair the country's ability to gather the momentum required for sustained improvement."