South Africa’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in nine months in the first quarter of the year, showing resilience despite the early impact of the Iran conflict and continued weakness in the manufacturing sector.
Gross Domestic Product in the continent’s biggest economy grew 0.5 percent in the three months to March, up from 0.4 percent in the previous quarter, according to data released on Tuesday by Statistics South Africa. The expansion, which exceeded economists’ expectations of 0.3 percent, marked the sixth consecutive quarter of growth and the strongest performance since Q2 2025.
The growth came despite the outbreak of the Iran conflict toward the end of February, which began to ripple through global energy markets during the latter part of the quarter.
“Finance, agriculture, trade and transport did the heavy lifting on the production (supply) side of the economy. The expenditure (demand) side was supported by a decline in
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