Economy of the Western Cape
A panel from the frescoes in the Assembly Room, Mutual Building in Cape Town, painted by Le Roux Smith in 1942. The fresco illustrates the importance of agriculture and shipping to the economy of the Western Cape in the early half of the 20th century.
|
|
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| GDP | R 424.38 billion (2016, second quarter) |
|
GDP per capita
|
R74,274 (2016) |
| 0.58 (2010) | |
| 0.75 | |
|
Labour force
|
2,785,871 (2016) |
| Unemployment | 21.7% (2009) |
| Public finances | |
| Revenues | R37.51 billion (2011/12) |
| Expenses | R43.6 billion (2013/14) |
Main sectors as a proportion of GDP in 2009
Western Cape's GDP contribution compared to other South African provinces.
The Western Cape's total GDP for 2016 was R424.38 billion (equivalent to US$29.3 billion) growing from R268.26bn in 2008.. In 2016 the economy grew by 2.7% with an annual inflation rate of 6.3%. The province accounts for 14% of South Africa's total GDP with Cape Town accounting for 9.9% of the country's total GDP in 2016. The province accounts for 11.2% of the country's total population with 6.2 million residents. The Western Cape has a GDP per capita of R74,274 in comparison to the South African average of R55,609 per capita in 2016. At 19.7% the province has a substantially lower unemployment rate than the national average standing at 23.2% in 2009. The province's Gini coefficient of 0.58 in 2010 is lower than South Africa's Gini coefficient of 0.65 (for 2011) making it more equal than the rest of the country whilst still being extremely high and unequal by international standards.
The Western Cape's Human Development Index is the highest in South Africa at 0.7708, compared to the South African average of 0.6675 in 2003.
The province's economy is dominated by the city of Cape Town, where the vast majority of all non-agricultural economic activity takes place. The single largest contributor to the region's economy is the financial and business services sector, followed by manufacturing. Close to 30% of the gross regional product comes from foreign trade with agricultural products and wine dominating exports. High-tech industries, international call centres, fashion design, advertising and TV production are niche industries rapidly gaining in importance.
Since the founding of Cape Town by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1652, the two pillars of the Cape Colony's economy until the Kimberley diamond strike of 1868 and the opening of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 were shipping and agriculture.
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