South Africa’s economy shrunk by 2.2% in the first quarter of 2018 after expanding by 3.1% in the final quarter of last year, Statistics South Africa  has said 

Gross domestic product rose 0.8% on an unadjusted year-on-year basis in the first quarter, compared with a 1.5% expansion in the previous three months, the agency said.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a quarter-on-quarter GDP contraction of 0.5%, while the economy was seen expanding 1.9% year-on-year.

On the other hand, the main positive contributors were finance, real estate, business services and government.

Economist Goolam Balam said: “The contraction in the economy during the first quarter of this year was anticipated in light of earlier indications that both the agricultural and manufacturing sectors had experienced noticeable weakness. Having said that, I do anticipate that during the remainder of this year, we will see an expanding economy.”

The rand has weakened slightly off the back of the latest figures. Today’s 83 cents in the cost of petrol litre is expected to have another knock out affect on the price of ‘just about everything’, economists say, with food prices to again escalate on the back  of rising transport costs.  Residents also face increases of around 6 – 8% in water, electricity and rates following the new municipal budget set to come into play on July 1.