The South African economy showed an increase of 1.4% in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter, when there was a more significant increase - by 2.6%, official data showed. At the same time, the slowdown in economic growth turned out to be weaker than the forecasts of economists, who had expected that the rise would slow to 1.2%. In the second half of the year in South Africa, there was a rise in the economy after its decline during the first half of the year. GDP growth in the fourth quarter contributed to an increase in consumer spending by 3.2%. However, investment in fixed assets fell by 2.5%. In annual terms, the South African economy grew in the last quarter of last year by 1.1%. The data for the entire 2018 year showed a GDP growth of 0.8% and indicated a slowdown in its pace compared with a rise of 1.4% in 2017.
