Durban — The Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) says manufacturing remains an important player as five provinces including KwaZulu-Natal employed 90% of the national manufacturing workforce in 2021.
Other provinces are Western Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape. This was revealed in their latest provincial gross domestic product (GDP) figures reports.
The report said personal services, which includes activities related to health and education, were the most significant contributor to the economies of Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Moreover, it said Gauteng is the biggest provincial economy, and it also recorded the highest growth rate in 2022.
“South Africa’s GDP expanded by 1.9% that year, with all provinces registering positive growth. The economy of Gauteng grew by 2.8%, mainly pushed higher by finance, real estate & business services, as well as transport & communication. These two industries also drove much of the upward momentum in Western Cape,” said the report.
The report further said the most influential industries in Western Cape, Free State and Gauteng are finance, real estate and business services. Furthermore, the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and North West recorded growth rates below the 1% mark.
The report said although these provinces posted positive gains, the mining industry was a significant drag on growth in all three economies. At a national level, the mining industry contracted by 7,1%.
The largest contributor to South Africa's nominal GDP by province from 2013 to 2022 was Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape. The least contribution was observed in the Northern Cape. This provincial ranking was the same prior to the benchmarking.
The provincial ranking in terms of contributions has remained the same over time and the magnitudes of the contribution (in percentage terms) changed slightly.
Growth rates across provinces varied significantly, with the largest growth in 2022 recorded in Gauteng and the least growth recorded in North West and Mpumalanga.
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