PRETORIA, Sept 8 (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy contracted in the second quarter of 2026 after six quarters of growth, official data showed on Tuesday, in the first release to properly reflect the impact of the Iran war.
• Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, whereas economists polled by Reuters had forecast it would shrink 0.1%.
• Statistics South Africa revised first-quarter growth to 0.4% from 0.5% previously.
• At the time of the last release, economists said second-quarter output data would offer a truer reflection of the impact of the U.S-Israeli war against Iran.
• Although the war started in late February, it took time for domestic fuel price hikes to kick in, causing ripple effects throughout the economy.
• Stats SA data showed GDP grew 0.9% in April-June on a year-on-year basis, also worse than economists’ forecast for 1.2% growth.
• Economists tend to follow South Africa’s quarter-on-quarter GDP reading more closely.
(Reporting by Kopano Gumbi;Writing by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander Winning)
