Farmers bolster Western Cape economy

In the Western Cape, the agricultural sector is buffering the impact of the economic slump. While growth in most other industries has slowed down, the agricultural and manufacturing sectors indices have increased by 12,9% and 3,6% respectively between last September and this year, according to the latest statistics from Sake24 and BoE Private Clients’ barometer for the Western Cape. Construction and trade indices shrank by 3,2% and 2,7% respectively, while financial services, property and business indexes fell 11,8% over the same period. The stress index of the province, which includes inflation, debt, unemployment and interest rates, has increased by 8,7%. N eville Pretorius from Economists.co.za attributes