Retail data points to end of SA recession.

Pick n Pay founder Raymond Ackerman and his son,
Gareth Ackerman, now the chairperson of Pick n Pay,
along with JSE staff, blow kudu horns to
open yesterday’s markets. Supplied

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa is expected to exit the technical recession in the third quarter, after Statistics South Africa reported a 2.5 percent growth in retail sales for August, following an upward 1.4 percent recorded in July and beating market expectations of a 0.3 percent rise.

Economist are now confident that the latest retail figures signal a potential recovery from the recession in the third quarter, but have warned that the performance of the mining industry would likely drag the economy down.

Lara Hodes, an economist at Investec, is expecting an economic recovery in the third quarter and also believes that retail sales will likely contribute modestly to economic growth in the third quarter.

By Dineo Faku.

Full story at IOL.