S. Africa's economy slides in first quarter of 2016

South Africa's economy shrank by 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures published on Wednesday by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).

A sharp contraction in mining tipped economic growth into negative territory, contributing the most to the fall in this period, said Stats SA.

Lower production in the mining of "other" metal ores, largely platinum group metals and iron ore, saw the industry contract by 18.1 percent.

If mining is excluded from the picture and non-mining growth is measured, the economy would have experienced growth of 0.5 percent instead of -1.2 percent, said Stats SA.

The impact of adverse weather continued to plague agriculture as the industry recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of negative growth.

Agricultural production has fallen by 14 percent since the fourth quarter of 2014.

The slowdown in mining and agriculture has had a knock-on effect on industries further along the production chain. Lower demand for energy, especially from mining, saw the electricity industry contract by 2.8 percent.

The transport industry recorded its second consecutive quarter-on-quarter fall in activity, now joining beleaguered agriculture in recession territory. A fall in demand for freight and passenger land transportation contributed to the decline.

The strongest performers in the first quarter were the finance, real estate and business services, which increased by 1.9 percent.

It's the third time since 2014 that GDP ventured into negative territory. In the first quarter of 2014, GDP fell to -1.6 percent, but recovered in the following months. In the second quarter of 2015 it again declined to -2 percent. Enditem