South Africa: SA Economy Expands By a Better-Than-Expected 0.8 Percent in Q2, With Mining Leading the Way

By Ed Stoddard

South Africa's economy is simply stuck in a low-growth rut and not expanding at the pace required to make a meaningful dent in the sky-high levels of unemployment and poverty.

South Africa's economy is simply stuck in a low-growth rut and not expanding at the pace required to make a meaningful dent in the sky-high levels of unemployment and poverty.

Finally, we can report some -- well, sort of relatively -- good economic news for Mzansi.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.8% on a quarterly basis in the second quarter (Q2) of this year, beating economists' expectations and accelerating past the 0.1% growth recorded in the first three months of 2025, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Tuesday, 9 September 2025.

After two consecutive quarters of decline, the mining and manufacturing sectors lead the way.

"Manufacturing production expanded by 1.8%, driven mainly by the automotive and petroleum, chemicals, rubber and plastics divisions. Mining output grew by 3.7%, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2021 (4.4%). Platinum group metals (PGMs), gold and chromium ore were the main positive contributors," Stats SA said.

Eight of the 10 broad industries measured for the GDP read expanded in Q2 compared with Q1.

Worryingly, the labour-intensive construction sector contracted 0.3%, and on a related front, gross fixed capital formation -- effectively a measurement of investment -- declined 1.4% in Q2, marking...

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