(Ecofin Agency) - South Africa is officially out of recession with a 2.2% growth in Q3, 2018, the national institute for statistics (StatsSA) announced on December 4, 2018.  

The GDP of the most industrialized country in Africa contracted by 2.6% and 0.4% respectively in Q1 and Q2 2018.  

The economic improvement recorded during the fourth quarter is essentially spurred by performances in the agriculture, industry and transport sectors, the StatsSA informed.

At just months to the legislative elections of H1, 2019, this rebound of economic growth is a good news for president Cyril Ramaphosa (photo) who promised to straighten the economy and bring back foreign investors.

After 5% growth between 2004 and 2007, the South African economy has been stagnating for years now because of the decrease of commodity prices, the spread of corruption and the multiplication of social movements in strategic sectors like mining and industry.

In 2017, economic growth was 1.3% and analysts forecast it to be 1.8% this year. On the other hand, some analysts are concerned about the negative impact of the land reform initiated by ANC, the ruling party. This reform authorising uncompensated expropriation of white farmers’ arable lands and their redistribution to the black majority worries investors who estimate that it could be a flagrant violation of property rights. Some critics also make the parallel with the disastrous land reform in Zimbabwe.  

According to the ANC, the land reform is aimed at correcting the disparities inherited from the apartheid with the white minority owning 73% of the farms.