Economist Azar Jammine has described as unreasonable expectation that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ascension to power would have had an effect in South Africa’s economic growth.
The country’s economy shrunk more significantly than expected in the first quarter of 2018.
According to latest figures from Statistics South Africa, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 2.2% in the first quarter of 2018 from a 3.1% high in the last quarter of 2017.
The largest negative contributors to GDP came from agriculture, mining and the manufacturing industries.
“I don’t think Ramaphosa has very much role to play here. You gotta bear in mind that Ramaphosa only became President in the middle of February half-way through the quarter. It takes a while for various aspects of the economy to be affected. A number of issues at play include wild fluctuations in agricultural food prices, also in minerals prices,” says Jammine.
