South Africa posts 2.5% growth in 2012

SOUTH Africa's economy grew at 2.5 per cent in 2012, according to official data, as growth in Africa's largest economy slowed.

The annual figure was in line with government forecasts, but was down from 3.5 per cent in 2011.

As many countries in Africa enjoy unprecedented sustained growth, South Africa's economy risks becoming tripped up, with confidence hit by a series of ratings downgrades and sclerotic policy implementation.

The government has touted an all-encompassing National Development Plan to eliminate poverty by 2030, but that has failed to impress analysts.

The growth figures come exactly a month before South Africa hosts a summit of large emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China - the BRICS.

South Africa remains the laggard of the group despite signs of a pickup in performance toward the end of last year, with growth reaching 2.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2012.

But analysts warned the sluggish rate would not solve the country's nagging poverty and unemployment.

"We did see some recovery in some sectors but growth rates are very lacklustre still," said Nedbank economist Busisiwe Radebe.

"Growth itself is largely irrelevant to the underlying fundamental story in South Africa - job creation needs to reach a sustained 200,000-250,000 per quarter in order to make a dent in unemployment," said Peter Attard Montalto from Japanese bank Nomura.

The GDP growth almost doubled from the 1.2 per cent posted in the third quarter, according to data released by Statistics South Africa.

This was only because "economic activity bubbled up into year-end after the stresses of strike action through Q3 into the start of Q4," said Attard Montalto, referring to months of wage-related unrest.

The current growth rate was unsustainable without "a real underlying domestic and foreign recovery", he added.

Mining activity, a mainstay of the economy, fell by 9.3 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Gold and platinum mines, the centre of most of the strike violence, were hardest hit.

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