JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s economy shrank for the first time in a year in the third quarter as the country was hit by riots and tighter Covid restrictions, official statistics showed Tuesday.

After four consecutive quarters of growth, the economy contracted by 1.5 percent between July and September compared to the previous three-month period, the Stats SA agency said. The contraction eroded “some of the economic gains the country has made since the severe impact of Covid-19 in the second quarter of 2020,” Stats SA said in a statement.

The economy underperformed “under the twin pressures of tighter Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and a spate of civil disorder in July, as well as several other headwinds”, the agency said.