GDP: The non-agricultural GDP climbed only 0.7% in 2025, with a 4% decline in construction and utilities and a 1% fall in manufacturing. Business services and trade each grew around 2%. The data on agriculture are still plagued by extraordinary swings. The crisis in ferroalloys production depressed figures for manufacturing and depressed outcomes in both electricity and exports. Read more.

Employment: In the year to the fourth quarter of 2025, total employment was reported as stagnant, growing much slower than the GDP. As a result, the share of adults with employment declined year on year, reversing the slow recovery since the pandemic downturn in 2020. Read more.

Infrastructure: Eskom sales fell more than a tenth in the course of 2025 as private generation climbed and ferroalloys production plummeted, largely due to soaring Eskom tariffs. The latter trend is typical of the “utility death spiral”. Overall freight tonnage was stagnant, reflecting slow economic growth, although rail freight continued to recover slowly. Read more.  

International trade: South Africa posted its eleventh straight surplus in goods trade in the fourth quarter of 2025. Year on year, exports increased by 1.1% while imports fell 0.9%. Mining exports jumped by 6.6%, offsetting a 3% decline in manufacturing. The shift was due in large part to increased exports of chromium ore as local processing into ferroalloys collapsed. Petroleum imports were held down by stagnant world prices, a trend that reversed sharply with the US invasion of Iran in March 2026. Read more.

Investment and profitability: Investment climbed 1.3% for the quarter in seasonally adjusted terms, marking the third quarter of growth. While public investment shrank 1.5%, it was more than offset by a 2.4% bounce back in private investment. Still, the sharp drop in private investment in the first quarter of 2025 more than offset growth since then, so investment at the end of the year was still lower than in 2024. The annual decline was concentrated in logistics, construction and mining, with modest growth in investment in manufacturing and the tertiary sector. Read more.

Foreign direct investment projects: The TIPS Foreign Direct Investment Tracker monitors FDI projects on a quarterly basis, using published information. It added 22 projects in the fourth quarter of 2025. The 15 projects with an announced investment value amounted to R63.2 billion. Read more.

Briefing Note 1: Employment vulnerabilities in South Africa's PMG sector - considerations for a just transition - by Lesego Moshikaro. This briefing note draws on a forthcoming TIPS publication on the state of the platinum group mining industry and the implications for employment. Read the Briefing Note online: Employment vulnerabilities in South Africa's PMG sector - considerations for a just transition.

Briefing Note 2: Access to broadband in South Africa - by Lucas Mthembu, This briefing note draws on a TIPS study of logistics infrastructure study that evaluates South Africa’s network industries, including road, telecommunications, rail and ports. The study is forthcoming.Read the Briefing Note online: Access to broadband in South Africa.