By Helmo Preuss
South Africa's real gross fixed capital formation (GCFC), or fixed investment, increased at a seasonally adjusted annualised (saa) rate of 7.2% quarter on quarter (q/q) in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a 5.9% rise in the third quarter, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said on Monday.
Data in its latest quarterly bulletin showed that for calendar 2011, real gross domestic expenditure grew by 4.4% compared with a 1.6% contraction in 2010, a 3.2% drop in 2009 and growth of 13.3% in calendar 2008.
Investment in infrastructure is the main thrust of the government's economic strategy as it seeks to overcome bottlenecks in electricity and logistics, as well as encouraging the private sector by "crowding-in" investment.
In the fourth quarter, general government fixed investment increased by 7.8% q/q saa, public corporations grew their fixed investment by 9.6% and the private sector, the largest contributor to fixed investment, added 6.2%. This compared with third quarter growth rates of 3.4%, 9.0% and 5.4% respectively.
For 2011, general government only added 0.8%, which is less than the population growth rate of 1%, while public corporations added 4.2% and the private sector fixed investment grew by 5.3%.
