South Africa's Q1 gross spending down 1.3 percent: cenbank

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's gross spending contracted by an annualised 1.3 percent in the first quarter of the year after increasing by a revised 1.9 percent in the previous three months, the central bank said on Tuesday. Household expenditure also fell by 1.3 percent in the first quarter after rising by a revised 2.1 percent previously, the Reserve Bank said in its June quarterly bulletin. Growth in government spending slowed to 1.0 percent in the first quarter from 2.6 percent. (Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa)