Graph and download economic data for OECD based Recession Indicators for South Africa from the Period following the Peak through the Trough (DISCONTINUED) (ZAFREC) from Feb 1960 to May 2022 about peak, trough, recession indicators, and South Africa.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in South Africa expanded 0.50 percent in the third quarter of 2025 over the previous quarter. This dataset provides - South Africa GDP Growth Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

As of 2022, the real GDP growth rate in Africa was estimated at 3.7 percent, decreasing compared to the previous year when it stood at 4.8 percent. Africa's real GDP is projected to keep a stable and constant growth trend between 2023 and 2027.

Negative impact of COVID-19

Starting in 2020, the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) caused economic stagnation and recession in most world regions. Economies on the African continent were also negatively affected, as the health crisis determined disruptions across all economic sectors. In 2020, Africa’s real GDP dropped to minus 1.8 percent, an exceptional negative growth rate registered on the continent. Southern Africa was the most affected region, followed by Central and Western Africa, respectively.

Forecast economic growth in Africa

In 2021 and 2022, Africa’s economy showed signs of recovery after the COVID-19 crisis. Growth was expected to continue in the following years, with the total GDP increasing from around three trillion U.S. dollars in 2020 to four trillion U.S. dollars in 2027. The African economy was set to grow at a rapid pace, especially compared to other world regions. By 2027, Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP is estimated to record a growth rate of over four percent, while the European Union’s economy would expand by less than two percent.

Context and Content

The dataset blends the University of Groningen's Penn World Table Productivity dataset, the Bank of Canada's Commodity Indices and the World Bank's GDP dataset. The blend is specifically created to answer the question: "What factors contribute most to, or are most indicative of, recessions in Africa?"

Content

The dataset has 49 feature variables and 1 target variable (i.e. the ‘growthbucket’ variable). There is a total of 486 samples in the dataset. 92.81% of the samples belong to the “0”, or “No_Recession” class. And, 7.82% of the samples belong to the “1” or “Recession” class. In short, the dataset has a class imbalance. It is useful for learning techniques for dealing with class imbalance like Cost-Sensitive Classification, Oversampling and Undersampling. For descriptions of the variables, see the attached file named: VariableDefinitions.csv

Years Covered: 2000 to 2017.

Countries Covered: 27 African Countries Including: Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Eswatini, Togo, Burkina Faso, Angola, Tunisia, Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, Benin, Namibia, Central African Republic, Sudan, Gabon, Niger, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Mauritania, Senegal, Mauritius, Botswana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Acknowledgements

University of Groningen: Feenstra, Robert C., Robert Inklaar and Marcel P. Timmer (2015), "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table" American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-3182, available for download at www.ggdc.net/pwt

Bank of Canada: Bank of Canada (2019). Commodity Price Index. [online] Bankofcanada.ca. Available at: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/price-indexes/bcpi/ [Accessed 28 June 2019].

World Bank: World Bank (2019). GDP Growth (Annual %). [online] databank.worldbank.org. Available at: http://api.worldbank.org/v2/en/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?downloadformat=excel [Accessed 27 June 2019].

Inspiration

A question: "What factors contribute most to, or are most indicative of, recessions in Africa?"