"The largest negative contributors to growth in the GDP in the second quarter were agriculture, transport and trade," Statistics South Africa said.

The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry decreased by 29.2 percent and contributed a negative 0.8 percentage points to the change in the gross domestic product. The decrease was mainly because of a drop in the production of field crops and horticultural products.

Transport, storage and communication fell 4.9 percent, taking away 0.4 percentage points, while trade, catering and accommodation were down 1.9 percent and contributed -0.3 percentage points.

The main positive contributions came from the mining industry and finance, real estate and business services, Stats SA said.

Mining and quarrying industry increased by 4.9 percent and contributed a positive 0.4 percentage points to GDP. Increased production was reported for mining of metal ores including platinum group metals, copper and nickel. 

Household final consumption expenditure decreased by 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2018 contributing a negative 0.8 percentage point to total growth. This was the first quarter-on-quarter decrease since the first quarter of 2016.

African News Agency (ANA)