CAPE TOWN, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The manufacturing sector in South Africa has plunged into a crisis, going down 0.8 percent year on year to May 2017, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Tuesday.
The sector was also down 0.3 percent from April 2017 to May 2017, according to figures released by Stats SA.
Petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products were down 8.4 percent, contributing -2.1 percentage points.
Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production decreased by 0.3 percent in May 2017 compared with April 2017. This followed month-on-month changes of 2.3 percent in April 2017 and -0.6 percent in March 2017.
The figures prompted the opposition to call on Parliament to hold hearings into a manufacturing crisis which is expected to worsen the economic recession in South Africa.
"By these figures, we now know manufacturing is in a recession with no clear way out from the government," the Democratic Alliance (DA) said.
That is why Parliament should step in and take control by holding hearings to get to the bottom of what is really going on in the sector and how the situation can be turned around, the party said.
The DA has requested that parliamentary hearings are prioritized above all other business.
"What South Africa really needs in this volatile atmosphere is a government committed to strengthening the manufacturing sector as it will create the jobs required for economic growth," said Dean Macpherson, DA Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry.
The decrease in manufacturing production is expected to worsen the economic recession in the country.
For the first time since 2009, South Africa has entered into a technical recession as its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2017. The contraction followed the GDP decline of 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
In 2016, the economy grew only 0.3 percent for the year. Enditem
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