Statistics South Africa has lifted the official size of the national economy by 4.9 percent, and for ordinary citizens the number carries real weight. The revised figures change the yardstick against which government spending, debt and service delivery budgets are measured. The 2022 economy now stands at R6.99 trillion, StatSA announced on October 29, 2026, and the 2022 growth rate has been nudged up from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent.
What changed is the counting, not the economy itself. The benchmarking and rebasing exercise prioritises reclassified industries and the non-observed economy, which alone added 8.7 percent to GDP among other considerations. In practical terms, activity that was informal, unregistered or previously undercounted now enters the official picture that statisticians and policymakers work from.
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Statistician General Risenga Maluleke set out the scope. “In the new methods in the benchmarking, we’re looking at the non-observed economy,” he said, listing the areas involved: “In mining, illegal mining, manufacturing, illegal production, electricity-owned generation, transport, informal and e-hailing, personal services, illegal gambling and prostitution.”
He also flagged changes to how products and institutions are classified. “In terms of product classification, the KoiCop 18 implementation and reclassification of industry, Prasa (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa), as we’ll know that the threshold of funding for Prasa has gone a little higher on the side of government and we had to make sure that we also look at non-profit institutions,” he said. The Prasa reference matters beyond statistics. A higher funding threshold for the passenger rail agency, a service millions rely on, is now visible in the national accounts. Non-profit institutions, likewise, have been given their proper place in the framework.
Rebasing of this kind is routine but consequential. As economies evolve, the structure of activity shifts, and statistical agencies must periodically update the base year and the methods used to measure output. Capturing the non-observed economy narrows the gap between the reality of daily economic life and the official record.
The revised figures put no extra money in anyone’s pocket. What they do is sharpen the evidence base for decisions that affect citizens’ access to services, from rail transport onward. A larger measured economy shifts the ratios used in public debate, including how national output is compared with government commitments and how growth is judged year on year.
With more of the economy now visible, the measurement of national life has moved a step closer to the reality lived by the people it describes. The open question is how Treasury and policymakers will use the bigger base in the coming budget cycle.