South Africa's economy contracted 0.2% in the third quarter of 2023 in quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted terms , compared to revised growth of 0.5% in the previous quarter, statistics agency data showed on Tuesday.

A presentation by Statistics South Africa showed the sharpest falls in output were in agriculture, construction, manufacturing and mining.

In unadjusted year-on-year terms gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.7% in the third quarter.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted smaller third-quarter output declines, of 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and 0.2% year-on-year.

Africa's most industrialised nation has eked out only marginal economic growth in the past decade, with crippling power cuts among major constraints.