The global economy continued to grow at a steady pace, although the buoyant mood of the fourth quarter of 2017 has since been tempered owing to a US-led rise in protectionism and deeper geopolitical concerns in the Middle East. However, South Africa’s quarterly gross value added at basic prices (i.e. growth measured from the supply side) amounted to -2.2% (quarterly annualised) in the first quarter of 2018, compared with 3.1% recorded in the previous quarter. Year-on-year growth in the first quarter also nearly halved to 0.8% following the 1.5% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.
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