{"id":8408,"date":"2012-02-28T14:41:44","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T12:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/update-1-s-africa-q4-growth-beats-fcasts-rates-seen-on-hold\/"},"modified":"2012-02-28T14:41:44","modified_gmt":"2012-02-28T12:41:44","slug":"update-1-s-africa-q4-growth-beats-fcasts-rates-seen-on-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-s-africa-q4-growth-beats-fcasts-rates-seen-on-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-S.Africa Q4 growth beats fcasts, rates seen on hold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Reserve likely to keep interest rates steady<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Rand initially firms after stronger-than-expected data<\/p>\n<p> (Adds details, reaction background)<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>By Xola Potelwa<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>PRETORIA, Feb 28 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s economic<br \/>\ngrowth accelerated more than expected in the fourth quarter of<br \/>\n2011, driven by rising consumer demand caused by lower lending<br \/>\nrates, although growth remains weaker than the years running-up<br \/>\nto a 2009 recession.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Although surprisingly healthy, analysts said the data still<br \/>\nbacked the case for rates to remain steady at the Reserve Bank&#8217;s<br \/>\nnext policy meeting in March. The central bank slashed rates by<br \/>\n650 percent in a loosening cycle that ended in November 2010.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Growth quickened to 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of<br \/>\n2011 on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, compared<br \/>\nwith an upwardly revised 1.7 percent rise in the previous three<br \/>\nmonths, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>On an unadjusted year-on-year basis, economic growth was at<br \/>\n2.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a revised 3.0 percent in<br \/>\nthe third quarter. Preliminary estimates put GDP growth at 3.1<br \/>\npercent in 2011 from 2.9 percent in 2010.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A Reuters poll of 15 economists last week forecast<br \/>\nquarter-on-quarter growth of 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter,<br \/>\non a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, while unadjusted<br \/>\nyear-on-year expansion was seen at 2.6 percent.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What those numbers are telling us is that the business<br \/>\ncycle uptick in the South African economy continues to unfold<br \/>\nand data has the potential to continue surprising in its<br \/>\nstrength throughout Q1 and into Q2 2012,&#8221; said Jana le Roux, an<br \/>\neconomist at ETM.<br \/>\n\u00a0 <span class=\"label\"><strong>Continued&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* Reserve likely to keep interest rates steady * Rand initially firms after stronger-than-expected data (Adds details, reaction background) By Xola Potelwa PRETORIA, Feb 28 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s economic growth accelerated more than expected in the fourth quarter of 2011, driven by rising consumer demand caused by lower lending rates, although growth remains weaker [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}