South African economy expanded 2.6 percent in the third quarter, less than forecast, as a rally in the rand curbed manufacturing, while consumer spending rebounded from last year’s recession.

The growth in gross domestic product eased from a revised 2.8 percent in the three months through June, Statistics South Africa said in a report released in Pretoria today. Growth was expected to quicken to 3.3 percent, according to the median estimate of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Second-quarter growth was previously calculated at 3.2 percent.

The South African Reserve Bank on Nov. 18 cut its key lending rate to 5.5 percent, its ninth reduction since December 2008, to maintain momentum in the economy. The recovery from last year’s recession is under strain from a 35 percent rally in the rand against the dollar since the beginning of last year, which has undermined exports and slashed import prices.

“The domestic economic recovery remains fragile, and the adverse global developments make the growth outlook more uncertain,” central bank Governor Gill Marcus said. The decision to cut rates was appropriate “given the weakness in the supply side of the economy.”

The economy will probably expand 2.8 percent this year and 3.3 percent next year, after shrinking 1.8 percent in 2009, Marcus said.

Manufacturing, which accounts for about 15 percent of the economy, grew an annual 1.4 percent in September, the slowest pace in 11 months, the statistics agency said on Nov. 11.

Companies are struggling with “the uneven pace of recovery in key trading partner economies,” Kgotso Radira, an economist at Investec Ltd. in Johannesburg, said in a note to clients before the data was released.

The government is targeting 7 percent annual growth over the next two decades to boost jobs and cut poverty. The economy shed 86,000 jobs in the third quarter, leaving the jobless rate at 25.3 percent, the highest of 62 countries tracked by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg