South Africa to Miss Growth Target After Damaging Strike

South Africa is set to miss its annual growth target of 2.7% after the longest strike in its history crippled the economy, according to Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.

South Africa's economic outlook "has moderated," he told reporters in Pretoria.

His comments came after the World Bank slashed its growth forecast for the country to 2% in June, down from 2.7% prediction made earlier in the year.

Forecasts by the International Monetary Fund and other institutions show "the economy is not going to grow as fast as we had anticipated," Nene said.

Gross domestic product shrunk by 0.6% in the first three months of the year, as the country's mining sector was paralysed by a long-running strike which ended in late June.

The strike "had a significant impact on the economy," Nene said. "It's going to take a bit of time for the economy to return to its pre-strike performance."

The five-month strike halted production at mines across South Africa, home to the world's largest platinum mines and Africa's second largest economy after Nigeria.

Ratings agencies warned over the country's creditworthiness in June, as Standard & Poor's slashed its credit rating to one level above junk.

Meanwhile, the country's largest union launched a strike on Tuesday over wages. National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa,) said 200,000 engineers and metalworkers had downed tools on Tuesday, just a week after the miners' strike ended.