South Africa Q1 GDP rises 0.5% beating forecasts

South Africa’s economy grew for a sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2026, expanding by 0.5% and surpassing analyst expectations. The data, released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday, showed growth was primarily driven by the finance, agriculture, trade, and transport sectors. However, officials and economists cautioned that the positive momentum is likely to be disrupted in the coming months by the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East.

The quarterly growth rate exceeded the 0.3% forecast by most economists and followed a 0.4% expansion in the final quarter of 2025. On an annual basis, output rose by 1.9%. The finance, real estate, and business services sector was the largest positive contributor, expanding by 0.9%. Agriculture saw robust growth of nearly 4%, supported by strong fruit and field crop production. Trade and transport also posted gains of 0.7% each.

On the expenditure side, growth was supported by a decline in imports and increases in household consumption, government spending, and exports. Household consumption, however, grew by only 0.1%, the slowest rate in eight quarters, with spending declining on categories like food,...