Western Cape - Economy

Economy

The Western Cape's total GDP for 2008 was R268.26bn, making the province the joint second largest contributor to the country’s total GDP, at 14.3%. It also has one of the fastest growing economies in the country, growing at 4% in 2008 and is expected to grow by 3.2% in 2011. 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 0.63 is lower than South Africa's Gini coefficient of 0.7 making it more equal then 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 biggest sector in the Western Cape's economy is the financial, business services and realestate sectors contributing approximately R77 billion in 2008. Manufacturing was the second largest contributor valued at R43.7 billion in 2008 with the agricultural sector being th fastest growing at 10.6% in the same year. High-tech industries, international call centres, fashion design, advertising and TV production are niche industries rapidly gaining in importance. The city of Cape Town is ranked as the most entrepreneurial city in South Africa with Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity being 190% greater than South Africa’s national average.