The Democratic Alliance said that positive second quarter Gross Domestic Product data released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday provides little hope to the 9.3 million people who do not have jobs in South Africa.
Statistics South Africa said that Gross Domestic Product for the Second Quarter of 2017 grew by 2.5%.
Statistician General Pali Lehohla, said that biggest contributor to the increase in GDP data were the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Industry, which increased by 33.6% as well as the Finance, Real Estate and Business Services sector, which increased by 2.5% while Mining and Quarrying industry grew by 3.9%.
However, DA MP, David Maynier, said that the reality was that the economy, which is set to grow at just 0.5% this year, was growing too slowly to increase the level of per capita income for the 30.4 million people living below the poverty line.
He said the growth rate was also too low to “increase the level of employment for the 9.3 million people who do not have jobs, or have given up looking for jobs, in South Africa.”
“The fact is that “radical economic transformation” is killing the economy and that is why we need a fundamental shift in economic policy to boost economic growth and create jobs in South Africa,” Maynier said.
