In the first quarter of the current year, South Africa's seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 0.6 percent quarter on quarter, according to the detailed statistics released by Statistics South Africa. The country's GDP had increased 1.9 percent on year-on-year basis in the whole of 2013. South Africa's unadjusted GDP rose 1.6 percent in the first quarter this year compared to the same quarter of 2013.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter this year the output of the country's manufacturing sector showed a decrease of 4.4 percent from the previous quarter, after a year-on-year growth of 0.8 percent in the whole of 2013. According to the report, manufacturing activity fell due to lower production in the petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products division and in the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division.