South Africa's better than expected GDP outcome closes the door on any further interest rate cuts, Investec said on Tuesday.

"We expect a 50 basis points hike in October 2010," group economist Annabel Bishop said in a statement.

The GDP data potentially brought the timing of the first rate hike closer.

Earlier Statistics SA announced the country had exited its first recession in 17 years, growing by 0.9 percent in the third quarter on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis.

The economy had technically left the recession in the third quarter of 2009 on the basis of the data published by Statistics SA, "but a sharp, V-shaped recovery is still unlikely in SA due to its heavy dependence on global demand and the degree of job losses and company failures to date".

Bishop said a sharp inventory build-up was likely, but this could not be sustained if global demand did not strengthen on a continual basis.

"We expect to see the demand side lagging the supply side."