South Africa's economy slows as record drought hits farming

South Africa's economy grew at an annualised 0.6 % in the last quarter of 2015, as the country battles the worst drought in a century, official statistics showed on Tuesday. 

The growth was a slight drop from 0.7 % posted in the previous quarter as President Jacob Zuma struggles to tackle high unemployment, a sharply weakened currency and falling commodity prices. The worst drought in over 100 years saw the agriculture sector contract by 14 %, said StatsSA.

The statistics agency said the economy grew by 1.3 % in 2015, down from 1.5 % the previous year. Economists forecast that Africa's most developed economy will continue to be fragile, with the World Bank and the IMF predicting growth will be less than one % in 2016.

Headline inflation jumped one %age point to 6.2 % in January, breaching the central bank's target of six %. The country's energy regulator on Tuesday approved a 9.4 %-electricity tariff hike.