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South Africa’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement: Questions remain regarding implementation of economic reforms
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 29 Oct 2020

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tabled South Africa’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) yesterday, just four months after the country’s Supplementary 2020 Budget was presented on the back of rapidly evolving budgetary requirements because of the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been a keen in...

South Africa’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan offers little new
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 19 Oct 2020

The third and last phase of South Africa’s response to Covid-19, the economic reconstruction and recovery plan, was delivered by President Ramaphosa on October 15. The first two phases outlined at the beginning of the pandemic response were themed "preserve" and "recover". The former comprised he...

The South African Reserve Bank leaves interest rates unchanged for the first time in 2020
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 17 Sep 2020

Following consecutive interest rate cuts during each meeting since the beginning of 2020 (including during a previously unscheduled meeting in April), the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left the repo rate unchanged today at 3.5%. The last cut in the benchmark ...

South Africa’s current account balance reverts to a deficit in Q2 2020
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 10 Sep 2020

Another unwelcome economic metric came out today as data released by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) indicates that the country’s current account switched to a deficit in the second quarter of 2020 after it recorded its first surplus since 2003 during the first quarter of 2020. It is worth ...

No surprise as South Africa’s economy contracts by 51% in Q2 2020
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 08 Sep 2020

The 2Q GDP results had been expected to be the worst in decades because of the effect the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the country and the economy. The second quarter was the period during which strict lockdowns, some of the strictest globally, were implemented in the country, which of course gre...

The SA Government is making progress in tackling corruption, but the governing ANC is still stuck in the rot
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 24 Aug 2020 · 1 response

Corruption in government has been brought back into the spotlight by the many allegations of corrupt dealings regarding the monies related to the Covid-19 fiscal rescue package. This has led to President Ramaphosa's writing a letter (published on August 23) to members of his governing African Nat...

South Africa finally moves to recover looted public funds – at least some of it
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 14 Aug 2020

At the beginning of the month, Eskom – South Africa’s embattled state utility that provides over 90% of the country’s electricity, alongside the state’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU), started legal proceedings against those implicated in corruption that saw the utility losing billions through ...

South Africa’s economy is ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, but activity is seeing recovery following the early Q2 slump
SOUTH AFRICA · Forecast · 10 Aug 2020

• South African households: In line with the rest of the economy, South African consumers are under immense pressure on account of years of insipid growth, and as such, domestic demand has been impacted negatively. The expected slump in GNI due to the pandemic, together with the negative impact o...

South Africa gets favorable IMF loan to support BOP against Covid-19
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 31 Jul 2020

On July 27, 2020, the IMF approved South Africa’s application for emergency financial assistance related to the financing of its Covid-19 pandemic response, under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). The amount approved totals US $4,286.5 million, i.e., 100% of South Africa’s quota for the fund....

South Africa aims to revive the economy via investment in Strategic Integrated Infrastructure Projects
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 28 Jul 2020

Just over a month ago, on June 23, we wrote a report on the inaugural Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA) – another instrument in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s drive aimed at boosting South Africa’s infrastructure investment and its economy. What had emerged du...

Today’s 25 bps cut brings the South African Reserve Bank’s total interest rate cuts in 2020 to 300 bps
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 23 Jul 2020

The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee again voted to cut interest rates today by 25 basis points following their scheduled July meeting, which puts the repo rate at 3.5% and the prime rate at 7%. This follows the Bank's repo rate cut of 50 bps in May. Cumulatively, this places the Reserve ...

A current account surplus during Q1 2020 makes it the first since 2003 for South Africa
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 02 Jul 2020

In a period that has seen a multitude of unpleasant economic numbers, including the contraction of the economy by 2% q/q, data released today by the Reserve Bank shows that South Africa’s current account was in a much healthier state as it recorded a surplus during the first quarter of 2020. The ...

Covid-19 extends South Africa’s H2-2019 technical recession into the first quarter of 2020
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 30 Jun 2020

Real GDP growth declined by 2% in the first quarter of 2020 on a quarter-on-quarter basis. This follows contractions of 0.8% q/q and 1.4% q/q, respectively, during the third and fourth quarters of 2019. Consequently, the technical recession that South Africa entered into during the last half of 2...

South Africa’s Supplementary Budget 2020 aims to begin the process of drastically consolidating government finances
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 25 Jun 2020

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni yesterday placed on the table the country’s 2020 Supplementary Budget, which is described as a bridge to the 2020 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement that is to be presented in October 2020, as is the norm. The previous budget, Budget 2020, was presented almost exact...

South Africa’s Infrastructure Symposium: An ambitious plan to boost investment and reignite growth
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 23 Jun 2020

Today, President Ramaphosa presided over the country’s inaugural Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA), a meeting that was promised at the beginning of the year by the Presidency as a culmination of intense stakeholder consultative processes aimed at mobilizing...

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