Browsing: South African Economy

• For South Africa, there may be no growth in 2023. Indeed, the country is likely to have slumped into a technical recession in Q1 2023.
• Absa Group survey shows South Africa’s power cuts are hitting the manufacturing sector hard.
• A sustained drop in factory output may result in job losses, eroding the economy further.

South Africa’s manufacturing activity continued to contract in April, albeit at a slower pace than in the preceding two months. The seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit 49.8 points in April  2023, up from 48.1 points in March. It, however, remained below the critical 50-point mark for the third straight month, indicating contraction in the sector.

This modest improvement was attributed to companies building up their inventories. Absa noted that the manufacturing sector faced yet another challenging month in April, with power cuts hindering output.

Eskom, the struggling state-owned utility, has imposed almost daily electricity …

South Africa was already in a precarious economic position and did not need the recent social unrest that engulfed its main provinces. It was bad enough that the economy according to the IMF had contracted by 7% in 2020 due to COVID-19 induced shocks through lockdown, stoppages to economic activities and resultant job losses. The new threat to economic recovery that has emerged looks certain to push the country over the precipice to economic collapse in the worst case and in the best case, make its recovery slow and painful. Whichever way the die goes, it remains a serious catch-22 situation. The world watched with shock and horror at images out of South Africa of certain members of that society protesting and subsequently looting and wreaking havoc on privately owned businesses. What had begun as an isolated incident in the country’s KwaZulu Natal province quickly degenerated into a national crisis …

The South African government last week announced a resumption in international visitors to the country amid a COVID- 19 infection reality. 

Earlier this year, South Africa, like many other countries, shut itself out from the world to control the spread of COVID within its borders. It immediately implemented local lockdowns which have been gradually lifted in different phases. 

Authorities had initially indicated that international borders were billed to be opened in February 2021. The country has, however, given the green light to international visitors in order to stimulate a faltering tourism sector.

Initially, borders were opened on October 1 but excluded visitors from many countries that were classified as high risk. 

Last week, the government updated its travel restrictions alert, opening up entry to all countries.

The opening up of borders is aimed at arousing the tourism sector in South Africa which contributes significantly to GDP. It has been …

South Africa, Africa’s second-largest economy could be in deep trouble, as the nation’s currency—rand eased against the dollar early on Wednesday, whereby the currency kept on sustaining losses a day after the central bank surprisingly cut lending rates, according to information from Reuters.

The nation’s finance minister Tito Mboweni also gave a warning on the possible trail towards a deep recession this year. In a different occasion, the finance minister highlighted that a recession could hit due to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, that has put the world economy at risk.

However, South Africa’s diversified economy was already in recession before the COVID-19 pandemic took a large toll on its economy.

READ:Recession could hit Sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank says

At 0625 GMT, the rand traded at 18.4770 per dollar, 0.9 per cent weaker than its previous close, according to data presented by Reuters.

However, according to the South African …

The South African rand got firmer against the dollar on Thursday, as it has recovered from its record fall the previous session, according to information from Reuters.

Earlier today at 0630GMT, the rand traded at 18.110 per dollar, 0.6 per cent firmer than its previous close. Hence, Reuters reported that investor confidence remained fragile as concerns over the economy linger.

The second-largest economy in Africa, which went into another recession in two years, is hurting from various economic scenarios including the ripple effect of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and the current power crisis.

South Africa has imposed some of the toughest restrictions on the continent to try to contain the pandemic that has already taken more than 170 lives and infected over 5,500 people. COVID-19 has killed 5 people in South Africa, infected more than 1,300 others.

The Southern African nation has rolled out various measures including deploying the army …