Mining sector to help prevent South African recession, central bank says

South Africa will avoid a recession despite a shrink in the economy at the start of the year, as a recovery in mining and manufacturing will lift economic growth, the central bank said this week.

Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele said that the continent will avoid a recession, a result of two straight quarters of growth, despite the central bank cutting down its growth forcase for 2016 to zero.

"The SARB (South African Reserve Bank) does not believe that a contraction in the second quarter is likely – a result that would tip the economy into a technical recession," Mminele said.

"The reasons for this are reasonably positive economic data thus far for the second quarter, in particular, the mining and manufacturing sectors are expected to add positively to growth."

Growth in the economy shrunk 1.2 percent in the first quarter as the mining, manufacturing and agricultural sectors retreated.

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