The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has welcomed Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA’s) announcement that the economy and manufacturing grew by 3.3% and 8.1%, respectively, in the second quarter, it warns that the country desperately needs political and policy certainty to ensure sustainable growth.
Commenting on the data released by Stats SA on Tuesday – which also indicated a general 4.6% decline in spending on gross fixed capital formation and a 3.8% decline in metals and engineering production – Seifsa chief economist Henk Langenhoven said that, while sustained improvement in economic conditions was necessary to arrest the decline in the metals and engineering sector, it was equally important that gross fixed investment improved simultaneously.
