By Silindzelwe Nxumalo
The Real Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicated a growth of 6.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023.
According to the 2023 Quarter 2 Gross Domestic Product report by the Central Statistical Office National Accounts Unit, this GDP was seasonally adjusted year on year following a revised decline of -2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
The report mentioned that the Year on Year (Y-Y) seasonally adjusted 2023 Q2 shows a growth of 6.2 per cent compared to a decline of – 2.4 per cent in the previous year (2022 Q2).
The report mentioned that the Y-Y growth measures the rate of change of corresponding quarters in subsequent years i.e., 2022 Q2 and 2023 Q2.
“The Quarter to quarter (Q-Q) seasonally adjusted growth rate which measures the change from subsequent quarters shows a decline of -0.2 per cent in 2023 Q2 following revised growth of 2.0 per cent in 2023 Q1,” reads part of the report.
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According to the report primary sector contributed 10 per cent to total industries in the second quarter of 2023 showing an increase of 6.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
The report explained that the realized growth was due to an increase in the growth of crops by 3 per cent, and animal production by 5 per cent.
“The Secondary Sector contributed 31 per cent to total industries, indicating a growth of 8.3 per cent in 2023 Quarter 2 year on year,” read the report.
The report mentioned that the realized growth in this sector was mainly due to growth in manufacturing by 8 per cent, and electricity by 23 per cent, and construction by 10 per cent.
Furthermore, the report stated that the tertiary sector contributed 54 per cent of total industries showing an overall increase of 6.6 per cent in 2023 Quarter 2 year on year.
The report further explained that this increase was mainly contributed by the following industries, wholesale and retail trade by 12 per cent, accommodation, and food services by 44 per cent, Information and communication by 22 per cent and Professional, scientific, and technical activities by 20 per cent.
“The realized revisions were due to revisions in source data especially the primary and the tertiary sectors which are mostly characterised by use of secondary data,” reads the report.
The report mentioned that the secondary sector had a minimum change which reflects some consistencies within the data and methodologies being used during the compilation stage.
It stated that some of the revisions were also due to the benchmarking of quarterly GDP estimates to the recently published 2022 Annual GDP estimates.
“Benchmarking is a process of aligning quarterly GDP with the annual GDP. The purpose of benchmarking is to incorporate more accurate annual information into the quarterly estimates which increases the accuracy of the quarterly time series,” reads the report in part.
