FNB says manufacturing output weakness extends into February [SOUND]

# FNB senior economist, Thanda Sithole says manufacturing output declined by 3.2-percent year-on-year in February, matching the contraction recorded in January, though slightly revised from an initial estimate of a 3.3-percent decline. Seasonally adjusted manufacturing output grew by 0.3-percent month-on-month. Sithole says over the three months to February, output contracted by 2.3-percent, indicating a potential drag on overall gross domestic product growth in the first quarter of this year: