JOHANNESBURG, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The South African Chamber of Mines said Wednesday the mining sector improved in 2016, contributing 7.3 percent of the GDP and continuing to make contribution to the country's socio-economic affairs.
At the annual general meeting of the South African Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg, Chamber of Mines CEO Roger Baxter announced the sector's performance in 2016.
"In 2016, the mining industry contributed R304 billion (about 23 billion U.S. dollars) towards South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP), representing 7.3 percent of overall GDP. If the indirect multipliers and induced effects are considered the overall contribution to GDP is about 17 percent," said Baxter.
Baxter said the mining sector directly contributed to R93.3 billion (about 7.1 billion dollars) to fixed investment, R3.7 billion in royalties and R12.5 billion in taxes were paid to the South African government.
At the end of 2016 the sector was directly employing 455,109 individuals representing over 5.4 percent of the total number of people in the country.
