Growth and stagnation under Apartheid
Between 1948 and the early 1970s, the economy grew rapidly and steadily.
Real GDP approximately tripled between 1948 and 1970. Even taking into
account population growth, real GDP per capita almost doubled over this period.
The strong growth of the period since 1933 was sustained. Gold-mining was
boosted by an increased gold price due to devaluation (in 1949) and the
subsequent opening up of the Free State goldfields. Gold production, investment
and revenues all rose dramatically. Massive investments in agriculture, heavily
subsidised by the state, resulted in a steady increase in output. Despite their
strong performances, the mining and agricultural sectors were overshadowed by
growth in the manufacturing sector. The share of GDP accounted for by industry
– including construction and electricity as well as manufacturing – overtook the
combined share of agriculture and mining in the 1950s, and reached 30 percent
by the mid-1960s (Feinstein, 2005: 144, 165-72, 193-9). In the boom decade of
the 1960s, investment in manufacturing grew by 12 percent p.a. and real output
by almost 9 percent p.a..